UNITED NATIONS, May 3 (NNN-XINHUA) — Cyclone Kenneth has killed 41 people in Mozambique, a UN spokesman said. The fatalities came about a month after Cyclone Idai killed more than 600 people in the southern Africa country.
Cyclone Kenneth also killed seven people and injured more than 200 others in the Comoros, said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Dujarric said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs also reported that more than 37,700 houses were destroyed or damaged in Mozambique.
UN humanitarian partners supplied shelter material, including tarpaulins, family kits, tents and hygiene as well as water and sanitation to families in need, he said.
The World Food Programme provided for over 14,600 people and on Tuesday a team, including two medics, was deployed to Mutemo Island, in Ibo district, with emergency health, water, sanitation and hygiene supplies, he said.
In the Comoros, almost 80 percent of farms and over 60 percent of crops have reportedly been destroyed and the cyclone also reportedly destroyed over 3,800 houses, the spokesman said.
The United Nations has deployed team members to assist the government of the Comoros in rapid assessment and response and emergency supplies are in place for health, education, nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene.
In an update on Cyclone Idai’s toll on neighboring Malawi in March, Dujarric said the world organization and its partners have reached over 400,000 people in need of aid, providing immediate life-saving relief support, including food, medicine, shelter, protection services, water, sanitation and hygiene supplies.
“Beyond addressing the immediate needs, the UN is also supporting the government to assess post-disaster recovery needs that will inform early and long-term recovery efforts,” he said. “This includes providing support for people who were displaced by the cyclone and wish to return home.”
Idai swept across Mozambique’s mid-section and also flooded huge swaths of Malawi and Zimbabwe.
Meteorological agencies said Idai was one of the worst storms recorded in the Southern Hemisphere, killing more than 1,000 people: more than 600 in Mozambique, about 60 in Malawi and more than 340 in Zimbabwe. — NNN-XINHUA
