Food Aid Delivered to Cyclone-Struck Inland Areas of Mozambique

The World Food Programme (WFP) airlifted food from the coastal city of Beira to the inland town of Nhamatanda on March 22, as rescue and recovery operations continued in the wake of the devastating and deadly Cyclone Idai.

The WFP said it had already reached 20,000 people in areas isolated by flooding and damage. It said it was aiming to assist 600,000, but said that number could increase. “The immense scale of the damage is becoming clearer, but the situation is likely to deteriorate, and the number of people affected is expected to increase as heavy rains are forecast to continue,” the WFP said in a press release.

Workers with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) helped offload the food in Nhamatanda.

Elhadj As Sy, the Secretary General of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), visited Beira on Friday and described the scale of the crisis as “staggering.”

“Hundreds of thousands of people have been impacted in some way,” Sy said. "We must respond fast and at scale, and prepare to accompany the affected populations on a longer term.”

The storm was already estimated to have killed hundreds across Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Malawi. Authorities in Mozambique said the number could surpass 1,000, reports said. Credit: World Food Programme via Storyful