Antonella, ex student of our Master PMC – Project Management for International Cooperation, was in Mozambique with AVSI when Cyclone Idai hit the country. We were able to get in contact with her, while she is still on the field in Mozambique, in the heart of the emergency, to have her describe us the situation on the territory right now.
On March 14, 2019, Cyclone Idai hit Mozambique. In 20 hours, Idai submerged entire villages and almost completely destroyed the port city of Beira and the internal city of Chimoio. As of today, the national institute of disaster management counts 1005 deaths, but it still seems like the number is destined to grow. “90% of the buildings in Beira are destroyed. The situation keeps getting worst and worst every day. This area saw the breaching of the dikes and everything was flooded. It is a tragic situation – and now we have to face the most important part: rebuilding.
Before this disaster, AVSI never had an office here, but given the situation we really felt our intervention was needed. An Emergency Coordinator is working on the field right now and, as Operations Manager, I am working almost without pause. At the moment, we are mainly working with child protection and first aid activities in Beira, but we are really doing everything we can to help”.
We are close to Antonella and all the people working in the field, who everyday serve the most forgotten groups of people.
