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Aid agencies rush to bring aid to Mozambique cyclone survivors

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Pemba, Mozambique: Aid agencies rushed on Tuesday to deliver emergency relief to thousands of survivors marooned on two Mozambican islands after one of the most powerful cyclones ever to hit Africa smashed into the country’s north.


Teams in white hard hats and green overalls loaded dozens of boxes of high-calorie biscuits and medicines onto two large cargo helicopters —which can carry three tonnes each — one destined for Ibo Island and the other for Quissanga.


“The priority is getting aid to Ibo because it hasn’t been reached yet,” Deborah Nguyen, spokeswoman for World Food Programme (WFP) said on the tarmac at Pemba airport next to a large white Mil Mi-8 cargo chopper being loaded.


Heavy rain delayed liftoff, and high winds pummelling the area raised fears the relief efforts could be further delayed.


But WFP spokesman Herve Verhoosel later told reporters in Geneva that the first flight had taken off for Quissanga with 2.88 metric tonnes of high-energy biscuits, a tone of food from the government and 100 kilogrammes of health and sanitary supplies.


The islands of Quissanga (50,000 inhabitants) and Ibo (13,000), just off the coast of Mozambique, suffered massive devastation, according to relief agencies working in the area.


Cyclone Kenneth killed at least 38 people and destroyed thousands of homes in Mozambique.


It washed away roads, submerged fields, and wrecked buildings just weeks after Cyclone Idai devastated the Mozambican city of Beira, 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) to the south.


— AFP


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