We are shocked to see the awful news from Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi, where tropical cyclone Idai has caused widespread destruction and loss of life. While it is well known that low-lying coastal cities and towns are enormously vulnerable to sea-level rise and extreme weather events, current estimates suggest this the deadliest tropical cyclone on record to have hit southern Africa.
The cyclone made landfall at the port of Beira, Mozambique’s fourth-largest city, with officials reporting that almost every building in this city of more than 500,000 people has been damaged. Early estimates for Mozambique suggest that up to a 1,000 people may have died. With the infrastructure of the area destroyed and large areas of coastal land now underwater, the worry is that this disaster could affect hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people.
Mozambique is vulnerable to periodic flooding during the rainy season but the harrowing pictures of inland seas with houses submerged up to roof level and people stranded on them only serve to illustrate how catastrophic this event has been.
To donate to the relief effort follow the links below:
https://crisisrelief.un.org/Mozambique-flash-appeal
https://www.savethechildren.org.uk/how-you-can-help/emergencies/mozambique-cyclone