After cyclones damage, Mozambique is preparing to fight against health issues

Beira, Mozambique, March 26: In areas west of the port city of Beira, hundreds of people were trapped for more than a week after Idai hit, surviving in vast tracts of submerged land with no access to clean water and shrinking food supplies.

Idai lashed Beira with winds of up to 170 kph (105 mph) on March 14, and then tore inland through Zimbabwe and Malawi, flattening buildings and killing at least 686 people across the three countries.

Rescue teams in Mozambique moved hundreds of people displaced by Cyclone Idai’s massive and deadly flooding to safer shelters on Monday, as the government is worried about the health of these people as they trapped in a serious situation without clean drinking water and diet.

While the government made preparations for a cholera outbreak that it says is inevitable amid the devastation.

some roads have become passable as water started receding without rain. But the size of the disaster zone that is getting aid to the most needy is still difficult.

“We are more organised now, after the chaos that we’ve had, so we’re delivering food and shelter to more people today,” Land and Environment Minister Celso Correia told reporters.

The number of people in makeshift camps had risen by 18,000 to 128,000 since Sunday, he said, adding that the government would install a prevention and treatment centre for cholera in areas affected by the cyclone.

“We have a lot of diarrhoea, but teams are working on the ground to say whether it is really cholera or not. But as I said there will be cholera,” Correia said.

United Nations aid chief Mark Lowcock said on Monday that the world body was appealing for $282 million to fund a response to the disaster in Mozambique for the next three months. This would cover relief including health, water and sanitation, he told reporters.

“Mozambique is, we think, the worst hit, but there are very real needs in the other countries as well,” said Lowcock, adding that appeals for Zimbabwe and Malawi would be launched in the coming days.