BEIRA, Mozambique: March 29, 2019. According to the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the official death toll in Mozambique from Cyclone Idai has now risen to 493 with a further 1,500 injured. More than 99,300 houses have been destroyed, damaged or flooded and 140,800 people are homeless.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says almost three million people have been affected by Idai in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi with many of them in camps where there is little or no clear water and sanitation. In Malawi the government says 56 people have died, 557 injured and over 922,900 people have been displaced. The European Union reports 172 people are dead and 327 still missing in Zimbabwe.

Meanwhile an EU Civil Protection team of 12 experts from Germany, Finland, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, and Slovenia is now in Mozambique operating between Maputo and Beira to facilitate incoming assistance.

Although flooding is beginning to recede west of Beira (pictured) the result is posing a new threat of water-borne disease as the area is now a large muddy swamp. On March 27 the government confirmed five cases of cholera as 900,000 doses of oral cholera vaccines are expected to arrive in Mozambique on April 01.

OCHA says Beira airport is fully operational but fuel shortages, low fuel refuelling capacity and the lack of loading and handling expertise continues. Deutsche Post DHL is one of the organisations that have responded with the deployment of its Disaster Response Team (DRT) headed by Chris Weeks, its director for Humanitarian Affairs, and including DHL volunteers from the UAE, Mozambique and South Africa.

“There isn’t much aid coming in right now,” Weeks explained, “but we expect that to change as the UN has allocated US$20 million to provide humanitarian help. One and a half weeks after the disaster conditions in this part of Mozambique remain critical. The rain hasn’t let up, the floodwater can’t drain away and the river continues to rise,” he added. “Right now, the airport in Beira is one of the few places in the city that is dry and has functioning infrastructure.”

The airport is currently receiving most of the incoming aid such as water, food, tents, fuel, medical supplies and technical equipment. Governments providing airlift capacity include the UK, Turkey and South Africa. And Airbus used an A330neo to fly 26 tonnes of aid to Maputo on March 27 on behalf of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.