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FILE - A general view of Beira on April 23 2019.On 14 March 2029, tropical Cyclone Idai made landfall at the port of Beira, Mozambique, before moving across the region. [File photo: Lusa]
Five years after Cyclone Idai turned the lives of thousands of people in the city of Beira upside down, many families are still trying to get back on their feet, despite the lack of promised support.
Such is the case of Alima Pedro, a 42-year-old resident of the city, who remembers the night of March 13 to 14, 2019, when Cyclone Idai spread destruction on land, and the promises of support made in the following days by national authorities and international partners.
“I don’t see any change. I don’t see any difference. To this day. Houses were destroyed. Mine too. But we didn’t receive any support,” said Alima, who has lived in precarious accommodation ever since.
“We continue to live like this. Nothing has changed, especially not for me. Nothing has changed,” she complains.
Alima Pedro recalls how, in 2019, the survey teams passed by her house, as by so many others, to survey the worst difficulties on the ground, an operation which, she claims, was nothing more than that.
“They were registering families that needed support, but, until today, nothing. We haven’t received anything. Today I only have half of the house, because there is no roofing, and we continue to live like this,” she said.
The 2018/2019 rainy season was one of the most severe in memory in Mozambique: 714 people died, including 648 victims of two cyclones (Idai and Kenneth) that hit Mozambique.
Cyclone Idai hit central Mozambique in March, 2019, causing 603 deaths. The city of Beira, one of the main cities in the country, was severely affected.
The same happened to Tanica de Sousa, 41 years old, who has remained unemployed since the cyclone struck.
READ: Beira is plunged into darkness as Cyclone Idai makes landfall in Mozambique
Today, Tanica lives from small street businesses and continues to wait for the promised support, beginning with the zinc sheets to put the roof back on the family home.
“They asked what was needed, how many sheets, but so far they haven’t brought anything. In five years,” she said. The solution has been support from other people to try to save enough to buy one zinc sheet at a time.
“We are scared, when we hear that the wind is about to come again we are worried, because the houses are weak, and we have no support,” she points out.
Cartiz Canivete, 64, has lived for five years in a house with a roof held on by cement blocks, after the cyclone took it off, and is afraid that the same scenario will happen again.
“Nothing has changed for me. Until now, in my house, the sheets have not been nailed down because they had flown away, so I put blocks on them to prevent them from flying away, because there are always rumours that other cyclones are about to come,” he says, apprehensively.
The delay, particularly in the construction of houses, is acknowledged by the Post-Idai Reconstruction Office in the province of Sofala. The objective set was to deliver, by September, 15,000 houses to vulnerable families, victims of the cyclone, in four districts of Sofala. But, so far, only 300 have been completed.
“We had an inquiry process to select the 15,000 households. We also had a long process to clarify the complaints that are legitimate, because the demand we have is greater than the available capacity in terms of resources,” executive director of the Post-Idai Reconstruction Office Luís Mandlate told Lusa.
Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and United Nations agencies are working with the office to rebuild the houses, but Mandlate recognizes that the process “takes time”.
READ: Donors pledge $1.2 billion to rebuild Mozambique after cyclones – U.N.
“It was a long process, from preparation to hiring artisans, before we were able to start the first house. It was quite a challenge,” Mandlate explained.
The reconstruction and construction of the 15,000 houses secured US$42 million financing from the World Bank, and is being carried out in the districts of Dondo, Búzi and Nhamatanda and Beira.
Despite the delays, Mandlate highlights the efforts of the government and international partners to improve the living conditions of thousands of families affected by Idai.
“For the volume of work we have to carry out, and looking at where we are, it is a challenge that we have to find answers and structure, in the sense of working until we are there. In the meantime, we are working to maximise our production,” Mandlate says.
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