Thousands displaced by Mozambique storms
BMS World Mission workers in Mozambique report on the damage done by tropical storms.
Two successive tropical storms in the last fortnight have caused severe damage to homes and infrastructure in Mozambique, one of the world’s poorest nations.
Damage from the high winds and flooding from heavy rain has killed at least 25 people and affected tens of thousands left homeless, according to a report yesterday by IRIN, the UN news agency. (Library photo: Senorhorst Jahnsen)
The effects of tropical depression Dando, which made landfall on 16 January, were still being felt when category four Cyclone Funso hit the country last weekend.
BMS World Mission workers Christine and Geoff Holder, based in Beira with their two children Isaac and Naomi (pictured right), wrote on their blog yesterday that they had endured “little more than an inconvenient sleepless night” last Sunday, but knew that many people in the country were less fortunate.
“Many crops and homes have been destroyed and roads and bridges are now impassible. Winds have gusted well over 150kph. Here in Beira we’re still cut off from the capital city, Maputo”.
The Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies state that Dando has washed away about 60 metres of the main north-south road about 100km north of Maputo.
This is the most severe period of weather to affect Mozambique since Cyclone Eline killed 700 people and displaced a million 12 years ago. (Photo on the right shows a view from the air following the floods in 2000; credit: Krugrergirl21)
It’s the fiercest tropical storm to strike the area since Storm Domoina in 1984.
Christine and Geoff add, “Please pray for our partners, the Baptist Convention in Mozambqiue, which is currently planning how best to help those who have been left homeless and cropless just the other side of the nearby River Pungue.”
BMS is planning to respond to the storms in Mozambique with a relief grant channelled through a trusted partner. We’ll bring news of that on the website when we have it.
(Photo credit: Steve Evans)
Pray for:
- The thousands of families in Mozambique recovering from the storm physically, and emotionally
- The Holder family as they seek how best to help in the situation, and that they would remain safe and healthy in difficult conditions
- Those bringing aid, especially the Baptist Convention, and that the damaged communications and infrastructure would not hamper their efforts too much
- Wisdom for BMS as we assess how best to use relief money
According to the UN’s 2011 Human Development Index, Mozambique is the fourth least developed country in the world.
26/01/2012
Back