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Cyclone Freddy, which hit southern Africa, has so far left 219 people dead in Malawi and Mozambique, although authorities still expect the death toll to rise. In southern Malawi, at least 190,000 people have been displaced. Given the situation, the Government declared a state of disaster.
Tropical Cyclone Freddy is one of the strongest storms ever recorded in the southern hemisphere and, as if that were not enough, it hit the African continent for the second time this weekend after being created in Australia in early February.
With this, the passage of the climatic phenomenon has left at least 219 dead in Malawi and Mozambique, more than 190 only in the first of these two African states.
Malawi’s disaster management reported that more than 190,000 people were displaced in the south of the country and the government declared a state of disaster there.
“Power supplies and communications are down in many affected areas, making relief operations difficult,” Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN secretary general, told a news conference.
The full extent of the damage is unknown at the moment because the worst affected regions remain inaccessible.
Authorities still expect the death toll to gradually rise.
The director of Amnesty International for Eastern and Southern Africa, Tigere Chagutah, asserted that “the affected countries must also be compensated for the losses and damages caused by the cyclone” based on the agreement signed during the last COP27 by which It would help the nations affected by the consequences of climate change and that sometimes, as in the case of Malawi and Mozambique, are among the least polluting.
The cyclone will continue to affect Mozambique
In Mozambique, at least 20 people have died from the cyclone, which touched Mozambican territory on Saturday and will continue to affect the country until it returns to the already weakened sea.
There, too, the number of fatalities is expected to rise.
Alcidio Benjamim, provincial manager of the humanitarian organization ForAfrika in Mozambique, told Reuters that 22,000 people were seeking refuge in Zambezia province in accommodation centers. “We expect (those) numbers to increase because there are areas that are inaccessible due to flooding. Some vehicles cannot go on the roads,” he added.
With Reuters and EFE
