Cyclone Idai: Inside the eye of the storm
What was it like being caught up in Cyclone Idai? Survivors of the storm in Mozambique tell their stories to CARE.
When the storm started we began running to find a safe place. We had no food and our clothes were soaked. We couldn’t believe to be alive.

Mariamo (above) is from Praia Nova Village, one of the most affected neighborhoods in Beira. Located right on the coast, this shanty town of loosely built homes was extremely vulnerable to the high winds and rain. Mariamo says:
We were very scared when the storm started. And now we are here. We have lost clothes and even food. Everything is wet including clothes.

I was sleeping and I woke up because I felt like I was floating. But my leg was actually in water. So I woke up my mother and we took our food and went to look for a safe place.
Families like Diolinda’s are now returning to try to pick up the pieces of their lives. Diolinda (above) says:
We could save some food. But I lost all my school books and clothes because they were all in the water.

Morganda (above) is from the village of Tica in Mozambique. She says:
First the winds started. The next day the water flooded our home [so] we started running. I saved my children but I lost my ducks, goats and my clothes. So now we have nothing to eat. We are sleeping along this road and when it rains we will be flooded again.

Luis (above) is a fisherman whose home was flooded in the the village of Tica, Mozambique. He has been using his boat to rescue up to 20 people a day. It takes him 6 hours round trip to reach flood victims sheltering in tree tops. He says:
These are big trees people are sitting in. They have been in them since Friday and don’t have anything to eat. And how will they survive? So I take my small boat to help rescue them. The situation is bad and there are many people stranded.




Watch this video footage shot by Josh Estey for CARE in the immediate aftermath of the storm:
Rescuing people and delivering emergency supplies




CARE’s emergency response in Mozambique
CARE is part of the COSACA consortium of international aid organisations working in Mozambique (other members are Oxfam and Save the Children). We have used stockpiled supplies (funded by UK aid) to deliver to affected people 500 tents, 200 rolls of plastic sheeting and rope for temporary shelter, 2,800 family kits and over 2,000 hygiene and family packages containing items such as soap, buckets, mosquito nets, blankets, tarpaulins, and water canisters to reduce risk of disease. We are liaising with other organisations and government authorities to provide further immediate assistance, including water purification tablets, menstrual hygiene items, jerry cans and soap, emergency latrines and hygiene promotion support to prevent water contamination and water-borne diseases.
Photos and interviews by Josh Estey for CARE.

News and stories are provided by CARE staff working to support our emergency responses and long-term development programmes.
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