May 9, 2019

Highlights

• Relief actors begin delivering assistance in areas impacted by Tropical Cyclone Kenneth
• UN flash appeal requests $85.2 million to respond to Tropical Cyclone Kenneth in Mozambique
• USAID announces nearly $2.5 million in additional logistics support for Tropical Cyclone Kenneth response
• Relief actors transitioning from response to early recovery programming in areas impacted by Tropical Cyclone Idai

Key Developments

The Government of the Republic of Mozambique (GRM) reported that the official count for Tropical Cyclone Kenneth-related deaths had increased to 45 people as of May 9. In addition, the GRM reports the number of people in need of assistance from Tropical Cyclone Kenneth has increased to nearly 255,000 people as humanitarian agencies access additional populations affected by the storm. Improved weather conditions have allowed relief actors to begin delivering assistance in areas impacted by Tropical Cyclone Kenneth; however, road, security, and weather conditions continue to constrain humanitarian access to some hard-to-reach areas. On May 9, the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) in Mozambique released a flash appeal, requesting $85.2 million in additional funding to respond to Tropical Cyclone Kenneth.

Separately, relief actors are transitioning from response to early recovery programming in areas impacted by Tropical Cyclone Idai. The GRM reported that the official count for Tropical Cyclone Idai and flood-related deaths in Mozambique remained at 603 people as of May 7. The GRM and relief agencies had resettled more than 21,400 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Manica, Sofala, Tete, and Zambézia provinces as of May 2.

On May 8, U.S. Ambassador to the Union of Comoros Michael P. Pelletier declared a disaster due to the impact of Tropical Cyclone Kenneth, which passed north of the country’s Grande Comore Island on April 24. In response, USAID/OFDA staff is coordinating with relief partners and other humanitarian agencies to identify response options. The Government of the Union of Comoros (GoC) reports that the cyclone had caused at least seven deaths, injured more than 180 people, and left nearly 186,000 people in the country’s Anjouan, Grande Comore, and Mohéli islands in need of emergency assistance as of May 8.

MOZAMBIQUE

Current Situation

As of May 9, Tropical Cyclone Kenneth had caused at least 45 deaths and approximately 94 injuries, representing an increase of four deaths and 55 injuries since May 2, according to the GRM. The storm had damaged or destroyed nearly 45,400 houses, 480 classrooms, and 19 health facilities. Additionally, the UN reported that the cyclone had damaged or destroyed roads, water and sanitation facilities, and other infrastructure in the area, isolating communities and increasing the risk of waterborne diseases. Relief actors are also concerned by the potential impact that the cyclone could have on food security and livelihoods in the affected area as the storm made landfall during Cabo Delgado Province’s main harvest season; the UN estimates the storm destroyed or damaged nearly 207,000 acres of crops as of May 9.

As of May 8, the GRM reported that nearly 255,000 people are in need of assistance due to Tropical Cyclone Kenneth as humanitarian agencies continue to access additional populations affected by the storm. Approximately 3,000 people were sheltering in an estimated 12 accommodation centers in Cabo Delgado and Nampula provinces as of May 6, representing a significant decrease from the more than 20,900 people sheltering in the more than 30 accommodation centers on May 2, the UN reports. The Camp Coordination and Camp Management (CCCM) Cluster—the coordinating body for humanitarian CCCM activities, comprising UN agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and other stakeholders—is working with the GRM to ensure that all returns and relocations are conducted in a dignified, safe, and voluntary manner.

The UN reports that flooding resulting from Tropical Cyclone Kenneth significantly impacted areas in Cabo Delgado’s Ibo, Macomia, Mecufi, Metuge, and Quissanga districts, as well as Nampula’s Erati district. Relief actors reported that infrastructure in Ibo, Matemo, and Qarimba islands were completely or nearly destroyed as a result of the storm; some populations in the area are also reportedly in need of immediate food and shelter assistance. While water levels are decreasing in river basins throughout Cabo Delgado, the GRM continues to issue a red alert due to the impact of rain and flooding in the area.

The UN reports that relief actors are shifting from response to early recovery programming in areas impacted by Tropical Cyclone Idai. As of May 2, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported that more than 21,400 IDPs from 10 affected districts across Manica, Sofala, Tete, and Zambézia had been resettled to other areas. The UN continues to provide humanitarian coordination support for the GRM and relief actors in Sofala’s Beira city following the closure of the emergency operations center in the Beira airport on April 26. Additionally, relief actors recently deactivated forward operating bases in Sofala’s Buzi and Nhamatanda districts, although relief actors plan to continue programming in the areas.

Humanitarian Response and Gaps

On May 8, the HCT in Mozambique requested an additional $85.2 million to provide assistance to 374,000 people affected by Tropical Cyclone Kenneth during a flash appeal to donors. The appeal, which will be included in a second revision to the 2019 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP), requests $23 million for food security, $12.5 million for health, $11.8 million for shelter, and $10 million for water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) needs in areas affected by Cyclone Kenneth. Donors have funded 30 percent of the more than $337 million requested in the current HRP to date. The HCT had previously revised the initial HRP, which responded to drought in southern and central Mozambique, to request an additional $282 million to respond to the impacts of Tropical Cyclone Idai in late March.

Improved weather conditions have allowed relief actors to deliver assistance, including food, health, and shelter supplies, to populations in areas impacted by Tropical Cyclone Kenneth. In early May, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) established a forward operating base in Ibo to coordinate Tropical Cyclone Kenneth response activities and distributions. However, relief actors report that road, security, and weather conditions continue to constrain humanitarian access to some hard-to-reach areas. The UN reports that the storm damaged bridges, roads, and other critical infrastructure in Cabo Delgado, limiting the ability of humanitarian actors to conduct assessments and deliver relief commodities to isolated communities. As a result, relief actors have delivered food and relief supplies to hard-to-reach areas via helicopter, including approximately 16,800 metric tons (MT) of food and relief supplies to Cabo Delgado’s Ibo, Pemba, Quirimba, and Quissanga districts as of May 7.

The UN reports that an armed group attacked individuals in Macomia’s Nacate and Minhanha towns on May 4 and 5. The May 4 attack reportedly resulted in three civilian deaths and seven injuries, according to the UN Department of Safety and Security. Populations in the towns had recently received humanitarian assistance as part of the Tropical Cyclone Kenneth response, although the attacks were reportedly unrelated to relief deliveries and no humanitarian supplies appeared to have been taken during the incidents. USAID partners and relief actors are working to update security protocols and ensure that humanitarian assistance reaches people in need; the UN World Food Program (WFP) reports that it continues to deliver food assistance to populations affected by Tropical Cyclone Kenneth in the area.

Humanitarian agencies in Mozambique continue to monitor and respond to health challenges—including the spread of vector-borne and waterborne diseases—in areas impacted by tropical cyclones Idai and Kenneth. On May 3, the GRM reported a cholera outbreak in Cabo Delgado’s Pemba and Mecufi cities, with 86 cases recorded in the cities as of May 7. The GRM has established a cholera treatment center—in partnership with NGO Médecins Sans Frontières—in Pemba, with plans to establish more centers in affected areas in the coming weeks. Additionally, the GRM plans to commence a cholera vaccination campaign targeting more than 250,000 people in Mecufi and Pemba in mid-May, and the WASH Cluster is conducting a mapping exercise of neighborhoods affected by Tropical Cyclone Kenneth to identify at-risk areas for cholera. An additional 900,000 doses of cholera vaccine will be administered during a second round to individuals in the area affected by Tropical Cyclone Idai. Meanwhile, the number of new confirmed cholera cases per week in Sofala continues to decline; health actors had reported more than 6,740 confirmed cholera cases—including eight cholera-related deaths—in the province as of May 6.

World Bank President David Malpass recently completed a trip to Mozambique to assess Tropical Cyclone Idai recovery efforts in the region. Following the trip, the World Bank announced $545 million in additional funding to assist recovery efforts in Malawi, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe; in total, the World Bank has announced $700 million in assistance for the response to date. The World Bank is currently engaging with the GRM, as well as the GoC, to assess needs resulting from Tropical Cyclone Kenneth.

USG Response and Assessments

As of May 5, USAID partner WFP had distributed food commodities to approximately 37,400 individuals affected by Tropical Cyclone Kenneth in Ibo, Macomia, Mecujo, and Quissanga districts. The UN agency plans to deliver emergency food supplies sufficient for one month to all affected populations in the districts in the coming weeks. Additionally, WFP is coordinating with other relief partners to simultaneously deliver other relief items, including shelter and health supplies, as well as conduct prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse monitoring activities during distributions.

USAID recently provided an additional $1.75 million to WFP to provide logistics support for humanitarian partners delivering relief commodities to areas impacted by Tropical Cyclone Kenneth, including hard-to-reach areas of Ibo, Matemo, and Qarimba islands. Due to limited road access and security concerns, the funding will enable WFP to deliver assistance to hard-to-reach areas via air on behalf of the UN agency and other relief organizations. To date, WFP has deployed two helicopters to airlift relief commodities to isolated areas. Separately, USAID announced nearly $700,000 to support partners delivering shelter supplies to populations affected by Tropical Cyclone Kenneth.

ZIMBABWE

Current Situation

As of April 30, the UN reported that all affected districts were accessible by road, including Manicaland Province’s Chimanimani district, one of the most heavily damaged districts in Zimbabwe. Due to improved ground access, WFP discontinued helicopter cargo service—which UN agencies and other relief actors had previously utilized to transport nearly 90 MT of relief commodities to affected areas—on April 27.

On April 27, the Government of Zimbabwe (GoZ) Ministry of Health and humanitarian organizations completed the first round of a cholera vaccination campaign in Manicaland’s Chimanimani and Chipinge districts, reaching nearly 483,000 individuals. The GoZ plans to launch a second round of vaccinations in June. Relief actors continue to prioritize cholera preparedness and early warning efforts in Chimanimani and Chipinge, located along the Zimbabwe– Mozambique border, in part to prevent cholera from spreading into Zimbabwe from Mozambique, where relief actors had identified more than 6,700 cases as of May 1.

Acute respiratory infections remain prevalent in cyclone-affected areas of Zimbabwe, according to the UN. Health actors recorded more than 1,500 cases of acute respiratory infection in affected areas from April 16–30 and expect that the caseload will increase in the coming weeks due to the June-to-August winter season. Additionally, relief organizations in Chimanimani report that the number of documented cases of diarrhea in the district has increased compared to the same period in 2017 and 2018 due to damaged WASH infrastructure.

As of April 30, nutrition actors had screened more than 19,000 children younger than five years of age for acute malnutrition across all districts affected by Tropical Cyclone Idai, identifying and treating more than 150 children experiencing moderate acute malnutrition and approximately 90 children experiencing severe acute malnutrition, according to the UN. Additionally, relief organizations had provided nutrition supplies to nearly 80 health facilities in Chimanimani and Chipinge.

An assessment completed by IOM on April 27 estimated that approximately 51,000 people remain displaced across all 12 districts affected by Tropical Cyclone Idai. Many IDPs are still residing with host communities and in collective centers; eight collective centers remain open, all in Chimanimani, according to the UN.

MALAWI

Current Situation

On April 27, the Government of Malawi (GoM), in collaboration with the Malawi Red Cross and other relief actors, launched a program to assist 14,000 IDP households return to areas of origin in Southern Region’s Chikwawa, Mulanje, Nsanje, Phalombe, and Zomba districts, providing IDPs with blankets, kitchen supplies, and shelter materials. Nearly 87,000 IDPs were residing in displacement sites as of April 27, according to the UN.

Nearly 732,000 people affected by Tropical Cyclone Idai were in need of immediate food assistance as of April 27, according to the GoM Department of Disaster Management Affairs (DoDMA). In response to food needs, the DoDMA, WFP, and other partners reached approximately 92,000 households with food assistance from April 7–27. The GoM Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation, and Water Development also distributed seeds and other agricultural relief items to farmers in affected areas.

Although all districts affected by Tropical Cylone Idai were accessible by road as of April 26, some isolated areas such as Zomba’s Chingale town remain difficult for relief actors to reach, the GoM reports. The DoDMA estimates that approximately five percent of the affected population resides in these areas and has not received humanitarian assistance.

Residents of Southern Region’s Balaka district, including those sheltering in IDP camps, face limited access to sexual and reproductive health services, the GoM reports. Balaka’s hospital has limited stocks of reproductive health supplies; residents of the three IDP camps surrounding Balaka’s Utale One health center only have access to health services at a private facility that many cannot afford. Ground access to Balaka’s Zarem camp is restricted, with health services provided exclusively by helicopter. Additionally, a lack of WASH facilities in Machinga district’s Nainunje camp, Southern Region, has led to increased risk of waterborne illnesses for residents.

COMOROS

Current Situation

As of May 7, Tropical Cyclone Kenneth resulted in at least seven deaths, injured more than 180 people, damaged or destroyed more than 19,000 homes, and affected approximately 345,000 people in the Union of Comoros, according to the GoC. The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimated that the cyclone has displaced at least 20,000 Comorians; however, UNICEF notes that the actual number of IDPs may be higher due to limited access to the islands of Anjouan and Mohéli. While the GoC and relief actors are conducting needs assessments and emergency activities across the country, response efforts are hampered by damaged roads and limited humanitarian capacity in the country.

Tropical Cyclone Kenneth destroyed almost 80 percent of farms, more than 60 percent of crops, and nearly 40 percent of cash crops in Comoros, UNICEF reports. The loss of agricultural capacity is likely to severely impact Comoros’ economy, of which agriculture represents the largest sector, and contribute to food shortages, particularly during the month of Ramadan from May 5–June 4. The cyclone also disrupted the electrical grid and rendered water systems inoperable; UNICEF reports that affected populations have begun using rainwater in place of potable water, increasing the risk of waterborne diseases.

Due to the effects of Tropical Cyclone Kenneth, Ambassador Pelletier declared a disaster in the Union of Comoros on May 8. In response, USAID/OFDA staff is coordinating with relief partners and other humanitarian agencies to identify response options. Additionally, USAID/OFDA staff in the region and Washington, D.C., continue to monitor the situation in coordination with other USG counterparts, GoC representatives, and humanitarian partners.

CONTEXT

Tropical Cyclone Idai made landfall over Mozambique’s city of Beira on March 15, producing torrential rains and strong winds and severely affecting Manica, Sofala, Tete, and Zambézia provinces. The cyclone also caused significant flooding, damage and destruction of property and infrastructure, and resulted in numerous deaths in southern Malawi’s Chichawa, Nsanje, Phalombe, and Zomba districts and Zimbabwe’s Manicaland Province. The same weather system had previously brought heavy rains that caused significant flooding in Malawi and Mozambique in early March, before gaining strength in the Mozambique Channel and evolving into a tropical cyclone.

On March 10, U.S. Ambassador to Malawi Virginia E. Palmer declared a disaster due to the effects of floods in Malawi. In response USAID/OFDA provided an initial $200,000 to CARE and Catholic Relief Services (CRS). On March 15, U.S. Ambassador to Mozambique Dennis W. Hearne declared a disaster due to the effects of floods in the country. Ambassador Hearne declared a second disaster on March 19 due to the impact of Tropical Cyclone Idai in Mozambique. In response, USAID/OFDA provided $200,000 to CARE to procure emergency relief commodities and support shelter and WASH interventions. USAID/OFDA also provided $200,000 to World Vision to respond to immediate WASH and shelter needs. On March 18, U.S. Ambassador to Zimbabwe Brian A. Nichols declared a disaster due to the impact of Tropical Cyclone Idai. In response USAID/OFDA provided an initial $100,000 to GOAL to procure emergency relief commodities and support shelter and water, sanitation, and hygiene interventions.

On March 20, USAID deployed a Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) to lead the USG response to Tropical Cyclone Idai in Mozambique. USAID also activated a Washington, D.C.-based Response Management Team (RMT) to support the DART. The DART and RMT are responding to the situation in coordination with other USG counterparts, GRM representatives, and humanitarian partners.

On April 25, Tropical Cyclone Kenneth made landfall over Mozambique’s Quissanga district, with winds estimated at 140 miles per hour and producing torrential rains in the province. On April 26, Ambassador Hearne declared a disaster due to the effects of Tropical Cyclone Kenneth in Mozambique. In response, the DART in Mozambique is conducting assessments and coordinating response activities with relief partners and other humanitarian agencies.

Prior to reaching Mozambique, Tropical Cyclone Kenneth had passed north of the Union of Comoros’ Grande Comore Island on April 25, producing strong winds and torrential rains in the country. On May 8, Ambassador Pelletier declared a disaster in the Union of Comoros due to the effects of the cyclone. In response, USAID/OFDA staff is coordinating with relief partners and other humanitarian agencies to identify response options.