Cyclone appeal raises £8m in a day as more aid flown out
EIGHT million pounds has been raised in 24 hours for those affected by Cyclone Idai, the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) has said, with further British aid expected to leave for south-east Africa over the weekend.
Personal donations from the Queen and the Prince of Wales were among those made following the DEC appeal in the wake of the disaster.
The UK is sending forklift trucks and other equipment to help quickly unload aid from planes and cut the time it takes to get relief items to those in need, International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt has announced.
The flight, which is scheduled to leave from Doncaster-Sheffield airport for Maputo in Mozambique on Sunday, is in addition to a flight containing more than 7,500 shelter kits and 100 family tents which arrived in the country earlier this week.
The disaster has left more than 1,000 dead and displaced hundreds of thousands of others, devastating parts of Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe.
Ms Mordaunt said: “We are only just beginning to see the true impact of this devastating cyclone. Sadly, much of the infrastructure at airports and other buildings has either been destroyed or washed away.
“UK aid is now in the region worst hit by the cyclone. A plane is due to leave from the UK over the weekend to support the relief operation. It will contain forklifts, lifting platforms and other airfield equipment to help aid workers move supplies from the airport to the worst hit towns and villages.”
The aid is also expected to include flood lights, water purifiers and more shelter kits.
Ms Mordaunt said: “It is right that the UK, the biggest global donor and one of the first to respond to the crisis, does all it can to provide life-saving assistance to those desperately in need.
“Other countries must now step up to relieve the suffering of the hundreds of thousands of people left homeless and without food.”
The Government earlier announced it has doubled from £2m to £4m the match funding originally pledged, in light of the amount raised by the British public.
This is in addition to the £18m in aid already provided by the Government. A Department for International Development (DfID) spokesman said: “Following the British public’s overwhelming generosity to DEC’s appeal for Cyclone Idai victims, the UK will match pound for pound a further £2m of donations on top of the total already raised – £8m.
“This new support will double the impact of the public’s own donations and will ensure that charities working on the ground can reach the men, women and children who have been left homeless and are in urgent need of food, water and temporary shelter.
“The UK Government’s response to Cyclone Idai now stands at £2m, including a total of £4m of aid match for DEC’s appeal.”
DEC chief executive Saleh Saeed said: “This announcement from the UK Government that it will match a further £2m of the public’s donations to the DEC Cyclone Idai Appeal is hugely welcome.
“The British public has clearly seen from the devastating images shown in the news that the scale of this disaster is immense, and has responded with huge generosity.
“As the full scale of the disaster continues to unfold, it is clear that many hundreds of thousands of people need urgent assistance. Please don’t wait.”
The cyclone, which hit the southern African region a week ago, prompted a national state of emergency to be declared in Mozambique, where about 400,000 people are internally displaced.
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