Cyclone Idai Leaves Mozambique in a State of Emergency

The Barcelona Institute for Global Health has offered its services to the Spanish Agency for International Development and Cooperation (AECID) and the Catalan Agency for Development Cooperation, to help with the response in the wake of the cyclone that has ravaged Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi.

Idai touched land on March 15 on the Northern coast of Mozambique, leaving Beira, the country’s second most populous city, practically destroyed. After that, it moved towards Zimbabwe and Malawi, devastating everything on its path. The official number of deaths exceeds 700 and over 2 million persons are estimated to be affected. Meanwhile, the floods and the resulting lack of safe drinking water and poor hygiene conditions dramatically increase the risk of infectious disease epidemics.

Mourning in CISM

Mozambique and ISGlobal have had a close relationship ever since scientists from the Hospital Clinic contributed decisively to the founding of the Manhiça Health Research Center (CISM). Although Manhiça was not directly affected by the cylone, the CISM community is deeply shocked, not only because of the cyclone’s consequences for the country, but also because of the family and friend ties of staff members with Beira. This is expressed by the mourning message on their website, together with the phrase “We are together”.

Help from Spain

Several Spanish institutions that collaborate with ISGlobal have started responding to the situation in the aftermath of the cyclone. AECID has activated its response mechanisms, which include sending a field hospital with surgery capacity and a team of specialists. The Catalan Agency for Cooperation has sent a delegation to the country to evaluate the situation.

Oxfam Intermón has distributed emergency supplies on the field and has initiated a fund-raising campaign.

The Spanish Red Cross has sent its Emergency Response for Water and Sanitation and has also started a fund-raising campaign.

Ayuda en Acción has announced that it will allocate extra funds to reach a higher number of beneficiaries and will send staff to the field to help in the response and gather information to help prepare rehabilitation and reconstruction project proposals.

MSF has sent teams to the affected areas and activated their emergency fund .

In turn, Entreculturas has prepared a rapid response team through the Red Xavier and is also collecting donations.

Call from Maputo

Among the voices that call for help for Mozambique, there is the Mozambican writer and ISGlobal-CISM collaborator, Mia Couto. In an email, the author declared: “The city of Beira seems to have been condemned to darkness, grieving and silence. People have lost the little they had. Where there were rivers, there is now an endless sea. And there is no more soil for the rain that keeps on falling.”

Fernando Leite Couto , the foundation presided by Mia Couto and which bears his father name, has opened several accounts for receiving donations that will be given to the Mozambican Red Cross.

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Spanish NGOs working in Mozambique