Mozambique: Portuguese government provides support after cyclone Gombe

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Mozambique: Portuguese government provides support after cyclone Gombe

3:05 CAT | 21 Mar 2022

File photo: Lusa

The Portuguese government will activate mechanisms to support victims of Cyclone Gombe in Mozambique and restore infrastructure, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and cooperation, Francisco André told Lusa.

“We will activate the Camões [Institute for Cooperation and Language] rapid response instrument to support the populations,” he said on Sunday when speaking at the opening of a meeting of Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa with the Portuguese community in Mozambique.

The same instrument was last activated a year ago for Mozambique, after the attack by armed groups on the town of Palma, in Cabo Delgado, worsening the humanitarian crisis in the north of the country, which now affects about 860,000 people.

At the time, the helpline was used to provide €250,000 for interventions by non-governmental organisations that delivered necessities and provided other support to displaced people following the attack.

In the case of Cyclone Gombe, whose rains have been affecting northern and central Mozambique for over a week (since 11 March), the allocation of funds will depend on the needs reported by the Mozambican authorities in an ongoing survey, Francisco André told Lusa after the intervention.

In addition to the rapid response instrument, “funds will also be made available to support the recovery of infrastructures that have been affected”, and projects in cooperation and development will be redirected to support affected communities.

Francisco André stressed that Mozambique “is certainly” one of the countries that contributed less to climate change, but “one of the worst affected by these changes”.

“The solidarity we want to provide has to be translated through concrete measures”, he said during his speech.

The number of deaths caused by the passage of tropical cyclone Gombe in Mozambique rose on Thursday to 51, with widespread destruction of homes (of traditional construction, with clay blocks and reeds), bridges and access roads.

The country’s main link, National Highway 1, which connects the north and south of Mozambique, has been cut since Saturday in the central province of Zambezia after rains washed away part of a section.

The country is approaching the final stretch of the current cyclonic season, annually between October and April, with intense storms.