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26.03.2019 | Press Release

After Cyclone Idai: Welthungerhilfe Expands Emergency Assistance

Disastrous situation after Cyclone Idai: 700,000 euros are being provided for distribution of urgently needed aid supplies.

After Cyclone Idai: Juliana has also lost her house and is now living in a temporary emergency shelter.
After Cyclone Idai: Juliana has also lost her house and is now living in a temporary emergency shelter. © Welthungerhilfe
Simone Pott Team Communications

Bonn, 25/03/2019. Welthungerhilfe is expanding its emergency response for the affected people of the devastation caused by Cyclone Idai in Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe. 700,000 euros are being provided for distribution of urgently needed aid supplies. The assistance provided in Zimbabwe is focused on the district of Chimanimani, which was particularly affected. Chlorine tablets are being distributed and wells are being repaired, to allow access to clean water for around 30,000 people. At the same time soap and other hygiene products are also being distributed. Four staff members of the Emergency Response Team also travelled to Mozambique last weekend to support the European Alliance2015 partners as well as local partner organisations. The number of people affected is unusually high and large areas of the country around the coastal city of Beira are flooded. According to UN figures for the three countries affected, 600,000 houses have been destroyed and more than 2.6 million people urgently need help to survive.  

“We expect these figures to rise over the next few weeks, as more heavy rainfall has been forecasted for the coming days, especially in Mozambique and Malawi. The water cannot drain off, and we fear an outbreak of epidemics like cholera and malaria. Many areas are still cut off from the outside world, and it is still impossible to predict the full scale of the destruction even ten days after the storm. This means we can only provide support gradually”, says Mathias Mogge, Secretary General of Welthungerhilfe, explaining the difficult situation in the countries.

The members of the Emergency Response Team in Mozambique can be reached by telephone, and they are available for interviews. 

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Welthungerhilfe is one of the largest private aid organisations in Germany; politically independent and non-denominational. It is fighting for “Zero Hunger by 2030”. Since it was founded in 1962, more than 8,900 overseas projects in 70 countries have been supported with 3.53 billion euros. Welthungerhilfe works on the principle of empowering people to help themselves: from rapid disaster relief to reconstruction and long-term development cooperation projects with national and international partner organisations.

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