LONDON: May, 17, 2019. Antonov Airlines and Bolloré Logistics recently completed an aid flight from Chalons Vatry Airport, France to Beira, Mozambique in the aftermath of Cyclone Idai. In addition to a 65-tonne payload of relief supplies, an AN-124-100 aircraft also carried logistics staff from aid organisations.

In order to respond to the humanitarian needs of 1.85 million people affected by the cyclone, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) is appealing for US$36.4 million for its emergency response for the next six months to September 2019. As of April 30, the appeal is currently funded at 33 percent.

The UN is urgently seeking an additional US$282 million of relief aid over the next three months to June 30, 2019. As of April 20, the Humanitarian Response Plan is funded at US$116.2 million, 24.3 percent of funding requirements of US$337 million.

Commenting on the operation to Beira, Antonov Commercial manager Paul Bingley said: “Speed and efficiency are key when flying aid to a disaster area, and after the aircraft arrived in Vatry, loading took five hours to complete. We were ready for take-off by the time we received the final over-flight permits, working closely in cooperation with our partner, Bolloré Logistics Nord-Sud.”

The cargo included malaria treatments, five water purification stations, and over a thousand tents and shelters to support the humanitarian efforts taking place in the wake of severe flooding after Cyclone Idai.

“The Bolloré Logistics office in Beira, which was at the epicentre of the disaster, provided support staff to facilitate the unloading of the cargo, and having all the necessary expertise, provided handling, administration and the final delivery,” added Charter director Karine Dantier.

Meanwhile, three weeks after Cyclone Kenneth made landfall in northern Mozambique on April 25, over 300,000 people continue to need humanitarian assistance in the coastal provinces of Cabo Delgado and Nampula. An estimated 45,000 houses have been damaged, many totally destroyed and more than 1,400 houses remain flooded, according to the government.

Pictured: Children on Ibo Island in northern Mozambique stand next to their newly reconstructed house while a shelter team installs a tarp on the roof.