Mozambique: Government decrees two days of national mourning for cyclone victims

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Mozambique: Government decrees two days of national mourning for cyclone victims

6:46 CAT | 20 Dec 2024

File photo: O País

Mozambique’s government on Thursday decreed two days of national mourning from Friday, after 73 people died following the passage of Cyclone Chido in the centre and north of the country.

In a statement sent to the media, the cabinet indicated that the period of national mourning was to begin at midnight on 19 December, when the national flag and the presidential pavilion would be hoisted at half-mast throughout the country and in Mozambique’s diplomatic and consular missions abroad.

The country’s president, Filipe Nyusi, had earlier lamented the death of 73 people and the destruction of infrastructure, including schools, hospitals and other public and private buildings, as a result of the cyclone, and called for “solidarity” with the victims.

“We will immediately prioritise support for restoring shelters, housing, food, energy, water and distributing seeds, in addition to the other support that is taking place,” Nyusi said in his seasonal message to the country.

A total of 73 people have died, one is missing and another 543 have been injured during the passage of Cyclone Chido in northern and central Mozambique, according to figures updated on Thursday by the authorities.

The storm also affected 329,510 people, corresponding to 65,282 families, in the provinces of Cabo Delgado, Niassa and Nampula, in the north, and Tete and Sofala, in the centre of the country, according to a new report from Mozambique’s National Institute for Disaster Risk Management and Reduction (INGD).

According to the authorities, the bad weather destroyed 52,476 homes, totally or partially, as well as damanging 49 hospitals, 26 houses of worship, 11 telecoms towers and 34 public buildings.

The updated figures also show a total of 35,461 pupils, 443 teachers, 561 classrooms and 139 schools having been affected, as well as 338 fallen power poles and 454 damaged boats.

According to the INGD, the tropical cyclone, which formed on 5 December in the south-western Indian Ocean, entered the district of Mecúfi in Cabo Delgado on Sunday, “with winds of around 260 kilometres per hour” and heavy rain.

Chido, which made landfall with force 3 (on a scale of 1 to 5), hit the coastal area of northern Mozambique from Saturday to Sunday, according to the National Emergency Operations Centre (CNOE), but subsequently weakened to a severe tropical storm. However, it continued to batter the northern provinces, with “very heavy rainfall” of over 250 millimetres for around 24 hours, “accompanied by thunderstorms and winds with very strong gusts.”

Mozambique is considered one of the countries most severely affected by climate change in the world, facing cyclical floods and tropical cyclones during the rainy season, which runs from October to April.

Source: Lusa