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As relief workers try to curb the outbreak of cholera in Mozambique, Zimbabweans have called for more relief aid to help the country following the devastation wrought by Cyclone Idai last month.
In Mozambique’s town of Beira, health workers this week began a cholera vaccination programme with the hope of stemming the spread of the disease.
More than 800 people died in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi as a result of the cyclone, which hit the neighbouring countries in the middle of last month. Thousands more were displaced. Cholera broke out in Mozambique last month and access to clean water remains limited.
About 900 000 oral cholera vaccines were delivered to Beira on Wednesday. When asked about the spread of cholera in cyclone-hit areas, the World Health Organisation regional director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, said: “The next few weeks are crucial and speed is of the essence if we are to save lives and limit suffering.”
In Zimbabwe, the UN on Friday asked donors for a further $60 million (R846 million) to help the country recover from the tropical cyclone. The storm flooded swathes of land, exacerbating a humanitarian crisis caused by an earlier drought.
The UN’s resident coordinator in Harare, Bishow Parajuli, said: “The revised humanitarian flash appeal aims to respond to the rising humanitarian needs of people in Zimbabwe due to a dry spell and a challenging economic situation that was compounded by the recent Cyclone Idai disaster.”
The request raised its total current appeal for Zimbabwe to $294 million.
Reboot Fund, a crowdsourcing project led by Zimbabwean business entities, said the country would need millions to repair the damage caused by the cyclone.
“The extent is dire and the need is overwhelming, but what is impossible for one can be made possible when many rise to the call,” the fund said while calling for more international aid.
Governments around the globe have already spent tens of millions of dollars on humanitarian assistance for Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi.
People in the affected areas are still battling to come to terms with the disaster.
Zimbabwean resident Stanley Muteke said: “Now when it rains or if there is any sight of wind, we panic a lot because we have never experienced anything of this nature before.”
In Mozambique, authorities and humanitarian agencies were reportedly struggling to accommodate the more than 150 000 displaced people, while thousands more are still missing and unaccounted for.
Many people in accommodation centres spoke of losing relatives as they fled the rising flood waters. One woman said that she couldn’t find her husband, her mother and her six siblings. An eight-year-old girl told local television that the last time she saw her parents and two siblings was when they left her on a rooftop from which she was later rescued.
Many of the missing may have found shelter in one of 155 displaced persons sites across Sofala, Manica, Zambezia and Tete provinces. Others could have returned to their villages when the rain stopped.
The Red Cross has set up a website to help people in affected areas, but more will need to be done to track down the thousands of people who remain unaccounted for. – Wire agencies
