By Anjali Sharma
UNITED NATIONS – UN Office of gumanitarian assistance on Thursday said that the aid teams in northern Mozambique are doing their utmost to provide help to communities hit by two deadly cyclones in a month.
Tropical cyclone Chido devastated the French territory of Mayotte in the Indian Ocean left thousands feared dead hit Cabo Delgado province on 15 December, killed 120 people and injuring more than 800, after smashing into Mecufi district and Nampula province.
OCHA said wind gusts exceeded 200 kilometres per hour and left a high number of houses either partially or completely destroyed. In all, some 400,000 people were affected.
A second storm, Dikeledi, hit Nampula on Monday, killing three.
Paola Emerson of the UN aid coordination office, OCHA said that 12 more named storms are predicted until April alone.
She said that “food is the main concern” for people as three million are already food insecure across Mozambique:
“All month long, UN humanitarians have been providing assistance complementing government efforts. As of Saturday, the World Food Programme and its partners had reached more than 190,000 people in five districts with one week food rations,” she said.
“A vaccination campaign to deal with cholera was launched on 6 January and it has reached 86 per cent of the nearly 200,000 people that were targeted.”
Ms. Emerson said that 109,000 people have received shelter and non-food items, including tarpaulins, blankets, ground mats and cookware, while 60,000 have received urgent medical care and disease prevention.
She said that 50,000 people were affected by the Dikeledi storm and over 7,000 homes were destroyed, along with 82 classrooms and 142 acres of agricultural land.
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