When tropical storm Chalane threatened Zimbabwe and Mozambique in 2020, government authorities and aid agencies sprang into action, learning lessons from the death and destruction caused by cyclones in 2019.
When tropical storm Chalane threatened Zimbabwe and Mozambique late last year, government authorities and aid agencies sprang into action, having learned lessons from the destruction and loss of life caused by cyclones in 2019.
How Zim and Moz learnt from Idai, Kenneth and prepared for Chalane Social media went a long way to warn people, but experts say as storms intensify access to more data is vital 19 January 2021 - 20:43 By Ray Mwareya and Nyasha Bhobo
When tropical storm Chalane threatened Zimbabwe and Mozambique late last year, government authorities and aid agencies sprang into action, having learnt lessons from the destruction and loss of life caused by cyclones in 2019.
That year, two consecutive cyclones Idai in March and Kenneth in April brought unusually heavy rains and high winds, causing more than 1,000 deaths across Southern Africa and affecting nearly four million people.
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CHIMANIMANI, Zimbabwe (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - When tropical storm Chalane threatened Zimbabwe and Mozambique late last year, government authorities and aid agencies sprang into action, having learned lessons from the destruction and loss of life caused by cyclones in 2019.
That year, two consecutive cyclones - Idai in March and Kenneth in April – brought unusually heavy rains and high winds, causing more than 1,000 deaths across southern Africa and affecting nearly 4 million people.
In late December 2020, ahead of Chalane’s arrival in Mozambique and eastern Zimbabwe, it was feared lives, property and infrastructure might be hit hard again.
In the end, the storm weakened and did not cause widespread damage – but measures taken to keep people safe ahead of time suggested disaster prevention efforts have started to move forward in the region.
IDRL in the south-west Indian Ocean, Study of legal frameworks to facilitate and regulate international disaster response in: Union of the Comoros, Mayotte and Reunion, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, and Tanzania (13/01/2021)
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ABOUT THE INDIAN OCEAN REGIONAL INTERVENTION PLATFORM
For twenty years the Indian Ocean Regional Intervention Platform (PIROI) – which reports to the International Relations and Operations Department (DIRO) of the French Red Cross – has been working on risk management of disasters (DRM) in the south-west Indian Ocean. PIROI consists of various members of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement: Comoros Red Crescent, French Red Cross, Malagasy Red Cross, Mauritius Red Cross, Mozambique Red Cross, Seychelles Red Cross Society, Tanzania Red Cross Society, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).