The EU has released €1.5 million in assistance to northern Mozambique and Comoros in the wake of devastation caused by Tropical Cyclone Kenneth.
Cyclone Kenneth hit Comoros on 24 April and Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province on 25 April, with destructively heavy rain and wind speeds between 100 and 120 kilometres per hour causing damage to buildings and infrastructure, loss of crops, mass evacuations and five deaths to date. It is the second cyclone to hit Mozambique this year, after Cyclone Idai killed more than 600 people in March – the first time the region has been affected by two cyclones in a single weather cycle. EU aid after Cyclone Kenneth will go towards provision of emergency shelter for displaced citizens; food aid; clean drinking water and sanitation; and emergency telecommunications support where necessary.
Christos Stylianides, Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management said: “Mozambique is facing a double disaster as a second devastating cyclone hits the country in just over a month. The EU is acting fast to deliver essential supplies, especially given that Mozambique is still recovering from cyclone Idai. We express our solidarity with the people of Mozambique and of Comoros. Our thoughts are with the national first responders working at this difficult time.”
After Cyclone Idai hit Mozambique earlier in 2019, the EU deployed €9.15 million in humanitarian aid and activated its Civil Protection Mechanism, bringing together resources and assistance facilities provided by nine Member States. The assistance material contributed both through the EU’s humanitarian aid facility and the Civil Protection Mechanism included immediate support, such as food aid and healthcare; as well as long term support in the form of assistance in rebuilding infrastructure and sanitation amenities. Assistance from the EU has also been deployed in the form of short term loans, in order to prevent citizens affected by the cyclone from having to sell their possessions to survive.
