Cyclone Idai, how can you help?
Here is an overview of the situation and ways to help the victims of the cyclone.
The French South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FSACCI) stands by the victims and all those affected by the Cyclone Idai in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi. We are deeply concerned by this humanitarian disaster and are doing everything possible to help the populations in need.
A number of our members have launched initiatives to help assist with this crisis. If you would like to assist the thousands of people affected across Southern Africa please don't hesitate to get in touch!
Overview of the situation
In Mozambique, tropical cyclone Idai hit the coastal town of Beira on 14 March 2019 with winds of up to 200km an hour, wreaking extreme devastation along the central coastline of Sofala, Zambézia and Inhambane provinces. Ninety percent of the area around Beira has been destroyed, main roads leading into Beira have been cut off, buildings have been submerged and severely damaged and all business has been shut down. There is currently no power in Beira and the surrounding areas, and nearly all communication lines have been destroyed, which is making assessment of the human toll and scale of disaster extremely difficult. To date, 84 deaths and at least 1500 injuries have been reported between Beira, Dondo and Chimoio cities; however a Mozambican state broadcast on Tuesday 19 March, confirmed the situation may be even more serious with 1000 dead.
After passing through Mozambique, Cyclone Idai hit Chimanimani in Zimbabwe, a small district of approximately 30,000 people in Manicaland province late Friday 15 March. Several roads leading into Chimanimani have been cut off, with access to the area only possible by helicopter. Airlifts were intended to take place to a nearby stabilisation centre but efforts are being hampered by difficult weather conditions.
In Malawi, the flooding initially started in Malawi from the early beginnings of the storm system, before the storm intensified and moved offshore, becoming Cyclone Idai and returning back to make landfall in Mozambique. This has caused severe flooding in 14 of Nsanje’s 28 districts. Rivers have broken their banks leaving many houses fully submerged and around 11,000 households displaced in Nsanje. Official figures confirm 56 deaths, 577 injured and 3 missing.
How can you help?
First initiative:
Doctors Without Borders is giving an emergency response in those three countries. Their teams are working to access people in need and get medical supplies and water and sanitation support to those in some of the most affected areas. They need financial help.
You'll find their intervention proposal under this article or here, with all the information if you want to support them.
Second initiative:
Our Member Alain Samy of S A Network is organising a way to help populations in Mozambique. He provides the following appeal:
You must have heard of the consequences of cyclone Idai in Mozambique. I hereby call for donations and financial contributions for the victims of cyclone Idai that hit the region of Beira / Mozambique on the 14th of March 2019. The city of Beira has been 90% destroyed and the whole region is under water. The NGO’s and Mozambican State Services are working day in day out, however given the magnitude of the catastrophy, they cannot get to all the areas. A group of SA friends and I have launched a relief operation for the region of Grudja and help close to 700 people, employees of a farm and their family as well as other people who looked for refuge, who have e seek refuge there. They need to be feeded and given medical support every day. On top of this, 1400 families who used to live of their agriculture activity, have lost everything. To assist the effort of the NGO’s, I am calling for your geneorisity and solidarity. A lot of individuals and also schools have donated goods such as blankets, canned food, baby food etc. We are calling on corporates to assist with financial contributions which would help to buy goods directly in Mozambique and be more responsive. In order to make the process easy, we have set up the following two. FYI, R9500 can help to buy 1 ton of rice.
CROWDFUNDING
You can donate through the crownfunding platform, see link below
https://gogetfunding.com/get-help-to-mozambique/
CONTRIBUTION THROUGH NPO
You can also donate through the NPO, Make A Difference South Africa. By doing so, your contributions are tax deductible
Name of Bank : FNB
Name of Account : Making A Difference South Africa NPO
Account type: cheque
Account number: 62741822242
Branch code: 255355
Reference: BEIRA 19 + NAME OF CORPORATE
I thank you in advance for your solidarity and generosity
FSACCI sends its thoughts and prayers to all those affected by this disaster.
