Source: Cyclone Idai: SADC countries ‘completely unprepared’ for disaster, says Sisulu | News24
Cyclone, flooding wreak havoc in Southern Africa
Hundreds are dead, many more missing and thousands at risk from massive flooding in Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe caused by Cyclone Idai and persistent rains.
Sisulu stated, in reference to the cyclone making landfall in Zimbabwe, that “we didn’t detect a cyclone, we thought it was just unseasonally heavy rains”. She said the damage “was beyond the [capacity of] support of South Africa”.
A devastating cyclone has slammed South Eastern Africa claiming lives in Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Malawi. Red Cross confirmed to Euronews that they expect the death toll to categorically rise in Mozambique while access issues have posed challenge…
News24 previously reported that in Zimbabwe the cyclone killed at least 98 people and more than 200 are missing.
In Malawi, the storm has affected more than a million people and more than 80 000 people were forced from their homes.
10 000 estimated dead
But it is in Mozambique where the damage has been most notable.
The minister also mentioned a phone call from Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi on Tuesday morning in which the president said a dam near Beira, the site of some of the most severe devastation, “was close to breaking”.
The dam walls subsequently broke, compounding the destruction in the already flood-damaged and low-lying area.
“Beira is gone, completely gone,” Sisulu said.
Sisulu said this “points to us as a collective, as the SADC, increasing our capacity of detection of weather patterns because we were completely unprepared”.
She added that the SADC depended on South Africa’s capacity.
Sisulu stated that “we are coordinating all the efforts from the United Nations and all other countries that are assisting in [dealing with the effects of] the cyclone”.
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