Integral Alliance has launched a Disaster Response for Cyclone Idai. This storm slammed into coastal Mozambique on 14th March and has continued inland toward Malawi and Zimbabwe. Eighteen Integral Members have opted into the multi-country response so far …
The coastal city of Beira in Mozambique has experienced wide-spread damage due to high winds and torrential rain. The official death toll is 416 people (as of 24 March), more than 1,500 are injured and an estimated 1.85 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance and protection [Source here]. The impact has also been felt in Malawi and Zimbabwe where flooding has destroyed homes and devastated crops. Urgent assistance is needed across all three countries.
Members are responding directly, working with their church-based partners and launching fundraising campaigns in their home countries. Members and their partners on the ground are assessing needs and providing urgent assistance. They are distributing food and relief packages, providing water purification equipment and shipping essential medicines into the region. Cases of cholera have already been reported in Beira and as well as water purification measures, Integral Members and their partners are preparing to respond to the likely increase in water-borne diseases.
Integral Member Food for the Hungry has been working in Mozambique for more than a decade. Matt Ellingson, Relief and Humanitarian Affairs Director at Food for the Hungry, shares that “Beira is our main focus and where our head office is located. While our programmes have certainly been impacted our staff and their families are among the hundreds of thousands experiencing loss.”
He continues, “We are coordinating with local and international aid agencies, including the UN and several governments such as ECHO and the US Government, and are very grateful to Integral Members already in contact with us as our relief effort is launched even prior to the flood waters beginning to recede.”
Jan Eyre, Head of Disaster Management and Programmes at Integral, says, “As the devastating impact of this cyclone becomes clearer, we are committed to bringing our Members to together to share assessment information, response plans and resources in order to bring urgent, lifesaving support. Our aim as Integral is to bring together resources and technical capacity from across the alliance so that more lives can be saved. Our prayers are firmly with all of the affected communities across Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe.”
The cyclone has affected approximately 500,000 hectares of crops in Mozambique and caused significant loss of livestock, exacerbating food insecurity across the country [Source here]. Alongside their emergency response, Integral Members and their partners are already planning livelihood recovery programmes.
In the initial stages of an Integral response calls are held as frequently as necessary, so that Members can provide valuable updates in the critical phase when needs are acute. Integral Members will continue to use the Integral online platform to share photos and stories, information, needs and plans with each other.
Members opted into this Integral Response are: Food for the Hungry (USA & Canada), International Health Partners (UK), Integra (Slovakia), Medair (Switzerland), Medical Teams International (USA), Tear Australia, Tear Netherlands, Tearfund (Belgium), Tearfund Canada, Tearfund (Ireland), Tearfund (New Zealand), TearFund (Switzerland), Tearfund (UK), Transform Aid Australia, World Concern (USA), World Relief (USA), World Renew (USA & Canada), ZOA (The Netherlands).
Please see an infographic of Integral Member activity here
