Mozambique ex-first lady Machel on Idai 'distress'

(26 Mar 2019) Former Mozambican First Lady Graca Machel said on Tuesday that a great deal more aid was still needed to help those affected by Cyclone Idai.
Machel, who is also the widow of former South African President Nelson Mandela, was speaking to the Associated Press during a visit to the hard-hit Mozambique city of Beira.
"Honestly, I am distressed. There is still a huge amount of work to be done in terms of providing the assistance, proportional to the need," she said.
"There is some already there but it needs to be done much more, taking into account the number of people."
Some 1.8 million people in Mozambique need urgent help after the cyclone, the United Nations said in an emergency appeal for 282 million US dollars for the next three months.
Cyclone Idai was "one of the worst weather-related catastrophes in the history of Africa," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters in New York.
He raised the spectre of hunger, saying the storm inundated Mozambique's breadbasket on the eve of harvest.
Authorities said on Tuesday the death toll in Mozambique has risen to 468, with 259 dead in Zimbabwe and at least 56 killed in Malawi.
More bodies are expected to be found as floodwaters drain away.
"We have been saying that climate change will hit more severely the poor," Machel said.
"Come then to Sofala (province of which Beira is the capital), you will see what it means."

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