Mozambique: Housing survey starts in September for post-cyclone Idai reconstruction

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Mozambique: Housing survey starts in September for post-cyclone Idai reconstruction

12:07 CAT | 17 Jul 2020

FILE PHOTO: Catholic Relief Services Mozambique/ /Christopher Reichert

The Office of Post-cyclone Reconstruction in Mozambique announced for September a housing survey in the city of Beira, in the centre of the country, to determine the number and location of houses to be rehabilitated after cyclone Idai.

The survey will be carried out by students, preferably from the Engineering and Architecture courses at the universities of Zambezi and Jean Piaget, both in central Mozambique, said Francisco Pereira, director of the Idai and Keneth Post-Cyclone Reconstruction Office, quoted on Thursday by the daily Notícias.

Idai hit central Mozambique in March last year, claiming 604 lives, and the city of Beira, one of the country’s main cities, was severely affected.

Around $100 million (€88 million) of the approximately $600 million (€527 million) needed for reconstruction are already available, added Francisco Pereira.

The post-cyclone Idai reconstruction project, which aims to rehabilitate and build more than 15,000 homes, will obey the degree of vulnerability of each family, prioritising, among others, low-income pregnant women, orphaned children and heads of households, the elderly and the chronically ill.

According to the schedule, the Office of Reconstruction will submit to the cabinet meeting, later this month, the report of public consultation and studies of the environmental and social impact of the project.

“The money only comes in if these premises are guaranteed,” said Francisco Pereira, adding that not all reconstruction will be possible within five years as planned.

In addition to Idai, Mozambique was also affected by cyclone Kenneth in 2019, which caused destruction in Cabo Delgado and Nampula in April and caused 45 deaths.

Source: Lusa