WORLD NEWS | ‘Appalling’: Hurricane Freddie toll counted in Southern Africa

HARARE, March 23 (AP) — The death toll from Cyclone Freddy, which has ravaged Madagascar, Malawi and Mozambique for the past two months, now exceeds 600, the World Health Organization said Thursday.

Aid agencies are scrambling to meet soaring humanitarian needs amid fears of rising cholera cases, malnutrition and large numbers of displaced families.

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“The cyclone has created an appalling humanitarian situation … that requires increased and coordinated humanitarian assistance” to support affected people recovering and responding to the disaster, Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa, said in an online briefing .

The prolonged, ferocious cyclone destroyed homes, roads, farmland and hospitals and “overwhelmed the capacity of medical facilities,” she said, affecting 605 of the more than 1.4 million people in the three countries as of March 20. People lost their lives.

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Cyclone Freddy first hit Madagascar and Mozambique in February.

The storm returned to the Indian Ocean before making landfall a second time in March, causing more damage in Malawi, killing about 500 people and affecting about 900,000 in Mozambique.

Aid agencies say many people are at risk of another cholera outbreak.

Malawi and Mozambique are already among the countries hardest hit by the cholera outbreak, with more than 68,000 cases in 12 countries in southern and eastern Africa this year alone, according to humanitarian agencies.

Cholera has killed more than 1,600 people in Malawi, adding that “millions” of children and their families in Mozambique are now vulnerable to a “potential increase” in cases, UNICEF said this week.

“The devastation and flooding caused by the cyclone exacerbates the acute vulnerability of children and families in these countries, which is further weakened by inadequate water, sanitation, health and sanitation systems,” UNICEF said in a statement.

Cholera cases in Mozambique have nearly quadrupled since February to about 11,000, UNICEF said.

Other humanitarian needs in the region are growing, and aid agencies are scrambling to pool resources to mitigate the unfolding disaster.

Some 4 million people – a fifth of Malawi’s population – are already facing food insecurity after floods destroyed nearly 120,000 hectares (297,000 acres) of farmland, the World Food Program said, “and now there are more People need help.”

Prices of the staple corn in affected areas have soared 300% to 400% compared to the same period last year, the World Food Program said.

According to the International Organization for Migration, more than 500,000 people in Malawi have been displaced by the floods.

In Mozambique, where the cyclone destroyed extensive infrastructure and damaged some 350,000 hectares (865,000 acres) of farmland, aid agencies are struggling to reach desperate communities whose roads have been destroyed, the World Food Program said.

More than 160,000 people have been displaced in the country and are living in makeshift shelters, according to the UN humanitarian agency.

Hurricane Freddie is expected to be declared the longest-lasting hurricane on record.

It is the latest in a wave of weather-related disasters including floods, storms and severe droughts to hit sub-Saharan Africa over the past decade – showing how deadly climate change is taking a toll on a region with a weak economy and inadequate infrastructure to cope Influence. to deal with such damage.

Human-caused climate change has exacerbated the cyclones, with rising temperatures making them wetter, more intense and more frequent, according to experts.

Richer, more industrialized countries are responsible for most of the greenhouse gas emissions that drive climate change, but less developed countries often bear the brunt of the impact of changing weather, a reality that led to a “loss and damage” fund for climate disasters agreed last year. (Associated Press)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the body of content may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)