The thousands of forgotten deaths of cyclone Idai in Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe

"Terrifying and enormous", this is the result of the initial verification carried out by the Red Cross in Beira, in central Mozambique,

after the passage of Cyclone Idai over the city of Beira. The World food program (Wfp / Pam), reconstructs the not yet well-defined contours of an immense tragedy: "Those who could have sought safety by climbing trees, hospitals welcome bodies, hundreds of people are still missing. It is feared that the number of victims, initially estimated at around 100 dead, could be drastically revised ". According to the President of Mozambique, Filipe Nyusi, hastily returned from his state visit to the neighboring eWatini kingdom as soon as he learned what was happening in his country, "It could reach at least 1,000 people who died because of the fury of the cyclone". Nyusi spoke of "A major humanitarian disaster" and assured that "The government's priority is to save lives among the more than 100,000 people who live in areas affected by the passage of tropical cyclone Idai". The cyclone struck Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, causing dozens of confirmed deaths in all three Southern African countries. But nobody knows how many are missing and meanwhile the rescuers are still trying to reach the populations that have managed to save themselves from the rivers of mud that have swept entire villages and cities. Jamie LeSueur, coordinator of the Red Cross rescue team in Beira , the second largest city in Mozambique with about half a million people, said that "the situation is terrible. The scale of devastation is enormous. It seems that 90% of the area is completely destroyed »