South Africa hit by hurricane: UN launches health aid



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After the flood: Buzi, central Mozambique. By ADRIEN BARBIER (AFP)

After the flood: Buzi, central Mozambique. By ADRIEN BARBIER (AFP)

A cyclone that ravaged three countries in southern Africa last week killed at least 350 people, affected more than 1.7 million people and left 15,000 people still struggling with floods, according to estimates Thursday.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced that it is considering tackling a new threat to malaria and cholera survivors and that the biggest storm in the region has taken place For years.

A man with one leg stands on sacks of rice bearing the inscription "China Aid", looted in a warehouse in Beira. By Yasuyoshi CHIBA (AFP) A man with one leg stands on sacks of rice bearing the inscription "China Aid", looted in a warehouse in Beira. By Yasuyoshi CHIBA (AFP)

Hurricane Idai was shot dead last Friday on the shores of central Mozambique, causing cyclone winds and torrential rains that flooded the hinterland and flooded eastern Zimbabwe.

Mozambique's Minister of Environment and Land and Environment, Celso Correia, said 217 people had been lost and 15,000 of the 18,000 stranded people still had to be saved.

"Yesterday, we had 15,000 people still in need of relief today – 15,000 people in bad shape – they are alive, we communicate with them, we deliver food, but we have to rescue them and to get out, "he told reporters. .

A total of 65,000 people are in transit centers, he said.

People stand near a damaged stretch of road between Beira and Chimoio, in Nhamatanda district, in central Mozambique. By ADRIEN BARBIER (AFP) People stand near a damaged stretch of road between Beira and Chimoio, in Nhamatanda district, in central Mozambique. By ADRIEN BARBIER (AFP)

"Our priority now is to ensure that we bring food, shelter and medicine to the isolated people in small islands or in large islands and villages," said Correia at Beira Airport, the coordination center for humanitarian aid.

World Food Program (WFP) spokesman Hervé Verhoosel said the number of people affected in Mozambique was 600,000, but warned, "This number will certainly increase."

In the end, about 1.7 million people in Mozambique will need badistance, Verhoosel said in Geneva.

In Zimbabwe, the state broadcaster ZBC announced that the death toll had risen to 100, up from 100 today. WFP reported that the number of people affected by the cyclone would have increased from 15,000 to 200,000.

Flooded area: The land west of the city of Beira has been transformed into an inland sea. By document (United Nations World Food Program / AFP) Flooded area: The land west of the city of Beira has been transformed into an inland sea. By document (United Nations World Food Program / AFP)

In Chimanimani, near the border between Zimbabwe and Mozambique, "about 90 percent of the district has been seriously damaged," said Verhoosel.

Like a war zone

An AFP reporter in the area said the district had been cut down.

The roads have been swallowed up by huge sinkholes and bridges destroyed by sudden floods – a landscape that, according to Zimbabwe's interim Defense Minister, Perrance Shiri, who is also Minister of Agriculture, "looks like After a total war ".

On Wednesday, families used hoes to dig mounds of dirt in search of missing relatives.

Victim: A young man recovers after being treated in a Chimanimani camp. By Jekesai NJIKIZANA (AFP) Victim: A young man recovers after being treated in a Chimanimani camp. By Jekesai NJIKIZANA (AFP)

The WHO said Wednesday that in Malawi, the storm had affected 922,000 people, of whom 82,000 had been displaced.

The WHO has announced an emergency plan for 10,000 people.

"The displacement of a large number of people and the floods caused by cyclone Idai greatly increase the risk of malaria, typhoid and cholera," said Matshidiso Moeti, regional director of the agency for the 39; Africa.

The three countries are among the poorest in the region and rely heavily on foreign aid.

Call for help

The UN has launched a call for badistance overnight.

Consequences: The mud fills a house in Chimanimani. By ZINYANGE AUNTONY (AFP) Consequences: The mud fills a house in Chimanimani. By ZINYANGE AUNTONY (AFP)

"We still do not know enough about the level of destruction to give an accurate estimate of the amount of this call for funds, but it will be important," said spokesman Farhan Haq at UN headquarters in New York. .

Humanitarian agencies prepared for the cyclone that landed early Friday, but not for the mbadive floods that followed.

Mozambique has been most affected by the rivers flowing downstream from its neighbors.

Members of the Air Forces of Mozambique and South Africa were recruited to conduct rescue missions and distribute aid to central Mozambique.

The roads leaving Beira have been destroyed and the city itself, which is home to about half a million people, has been damaged or destroyed to 90%.

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