On Friday 20 December, the European Commission approved new emergency aid for Mozambique, worth 900,000 euros (59 million meticals), and will also send 60 tonnes of materials, following the devastation caused by Cyclone Chido.
‘Mozambique has been allocated 900,000 euros in emergency humanitarian aid for the affected communities, with a particular focus on shelters, access to drinking water and health care. In addition, 60 tonnes of emergency aid will be sent from the European Union reserves in Nairobi to Pemba on five humanitarian airlift flights, including shelter material,’ the organisation said.
The European organisation recalled that 73 people have died, one is missing and another 543 have been injured during the passage of Cyclone Chido, and added that it is also sending aid to the French department of Mayotte, also affected by the storm.
Cyclone Chido also caused the total or partial destruction of 36,207 houses, affected 48 hospitals, 13 houses of worship, 186 power poles, 9 water systems and 171 boats. There were also 149 schools and, consequently, 15,429 pupils and 224 teachers affected by the bad weather.
A report by the National Institute for Disaster Risk Management and Reduction (INGD) indicated that the tropical cyclone, which formed on 5 December in the south-west of the Indian Ocean, entered the district of Mecúfi, in the province of Cabo Delgado, ‘with winds of around 260 kilometres per hour’ and heavy rain.
The intense tropical cyclone Chido, with a scale of 3 (1 to 5), hit the coastal area of northern Mozambique on the night of Saturday to Sunday (14 to 15), according to the National Emergency Operations Centre (CNOE), but weakened to a severe tropical storm, although it continued to batter the northern provinces, with ‘very heavy rainfall of over 250 millimetres in 24 hours, accompanied by thunderstorms and winds with very strong gusts.’
