Israeli humanitarian aid agency IsraAID is preparing its emergency response to Cyclone Kenneth in Mozambique.
The storm hit northern Mozambique as a Category 4 cyclone on April 25, killing at least 38 people, with subsequent heavy rains threatening to cause potentially catastrophic flooding.
Kenneth was the second cyclone to hit Mozambique in just over a month, after Cyclone Idai devastated the center of the country in March, leaving 1.85 million people in need.
IsraAID’s Emergency Response team has been on the ground in Mozambique since Idai, and is working with the government and humanitarian partners to plan the organization’s response to Kenneth, the agency said.
The potential impact of Kenneth on the country, already stretched to breaking point by Idai, is huge. Mozambique has never been hit by two storms of this magnitude in the same season.
Torrential rains, reaching up to 100 mm per day in some areas, are forecast to continue for the next few days and could lead to communities already hit by the cyclone, suffering a large-scale secondary emergency. It may hamper relief efforts as well.
“IsraAID’s response will focus on mental health and community resilience, supporting education systems as they get back on their feet, restoring community access to safe water and hygiene promotion,” a spokesperson for the agency said.
The IsraAID team in Mozambique is continuing its work in the provinces of Sofala and Buzi in the center of the country, which were hit hard by Idai and are still in need of urgent assistance.
Since the start of emergency response operations, IsraAID’s water, sanitation & hygiene, protection, and medical programs have directly reached more than 9,500 people, including in remote areas that were cut off by the cyclone, the agency said.
