Mozambique’s worst humanitarian crisis in recent history
Aid workers rushed to rescue victims clinging to trees and crammed on rooftops yesterday after a cyclone unleashed devastating floods in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi.
More than 350 people were confirmed dead, hundreds were missing and thousands more were at risk.
In Mozambique, the rapidly rising floodwaters created ‘‘an inland ocean,’’ endangering tens of thousands of families, aid workers said as they scrambled to rescue survivors and airdrop, food, water and blankets to survivors of Cyclone Idai.
‘‘This is the worst humanitarian crisis in Mozambique’s recent history,’’ said Jamie LeSueur, head of response efforts for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
Mozambique’s President Filipe Nyusi saidmore than 200 people had been confirmed dead in his country. Earlier he said the death toll could reach 1000.
At least 400,000 people were left homeless.
In Zimbabwe’s eastern mountain areas bordering Mozambique, residents struggled to cope with the disaster.
‘‘There was a house there, it was buried and the owners may have been buried with it.
They are missing,’’ said Zacharia Chinyai of the Zimbabwean border town of Chimanimani, who lost 12 relatives in the disaster.
The cyclone took residents by surprise, Chinyai said.
‘‘We heard news on the radio’’ about the flooding in neighbouring Mozambique, he said. ‘‘But we never thought we could also be victims. No one told us it was going to be this devastating.’’
Chipo Dhliwayo lost her daughters, 4-year-old Anita and 8-year-old Amanda.
‘‘I wasn’t able to save anything except this baby,’’ she said of her lone surviving child, a 6-monthold son, who suffered an eye injury and scars to his face.
The family was sleeping when their house collapsed, the 30-yearold said. ‘‘Trees, rocks and mud were raining on us. I grabbed my son, my husband took Anita and we ran to a hut, but that also collapsed. Anita died there,’’ she said.