Cyclone Chido hit northern Mozambique on Sunday, causing widespread destruction and killing at least 45 people, local officials say. The United Nations Satellite Centre estimates that around 1.3m people have been affected, mostly in the country’s conflict-stricken province of Cabo Delgado.
The eye of the storm passed through Cabo Delgado’s Mecufi district, where thousands of people displaced by the violence of Islamic State Mozambique have sought shelter. Almost all infrastructure in the area was destroyed, according to the Portuguese NGO Helpo. The scale of devastation can be seen in photos and videos taken by Unicef and shared with Zitamar News.
Credit: Unicef
“We saw a lot of destruction. Lots of roofs were taken off. There was damage to a lot of public infrastructure and the power lines were down,” said Guy Taylor, a Unicef spokesman in Cabo Delgado, describing the immediate aftermath of the storm.
The cyclone may have led to the contamination of water sources, which could trigger the spread of diseases such as cholera, malaria and diarrhoea, Taylor warned.
“There were 3.4m children in need of humanitarian assistance in Mozambique even before this, and so this only exacerbates the situation for them,” he said.
More than 35,000 homes were partially or totally destroyed as violent winds of up to 260km an hour laid waste to many communities in its path, according to Mozambique’s disaster management agency INGD.
At least 160,000 people, or 10% of Cabo Delgado’s population, could be in urgent need of shelter assistance, the International Organisation of Migration (IOM) reported on Wednesday.
Chido also affected the provinces of Nampula and Niassa.
Humanitarian agencies are busy distributing aid to the victims of the storm. IOM has set up mobile clinics and is helping coordinate the delivery of water purification bottles.
“Unicef managed to pre-position a large quantity of central supplies, things like water treatment tablets, buckets, hand-held torches, hygiene kits, medications, and we’ve been working with UN partners and the government to coordinate the response,” Taylor said.
The UN High Commission for Refugees told a press conference in Geneva on Tuesday that it was concerned that Cyclone Chido “may signal the start of an intense and destructive rainy season”.
Credit: Unicef
