BEIRA, Mozambique

One year after the landfall of tropical Cyclone Idai, one of the worst storms to ever strike Africa, claiming over 1,300 lives, survivors in Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Malawi have started rebuilding, but remain desperate for help.

For the residents of the East African country of Mozambique, food is now the major concern, as the cyclone harmed food security and affected farm-based livelihoods for hundreds of thousands. The cyclone winds caused damage and destruction to trees and other vegetation, disrupting a serious number of livelihoods, especially those of farmers.

Faife Mufundisse is an amputee who had lost both legs in an accident. When disaster struck Mozambique, he says everything was like a nightmare: “People were running away for their lives, there I was without my legs, with no wheelchair. People were trying to save their lives, but no one would notice me that I needed help with evacuation”.

“My greatest fear running away like everybody else was doing, I was very afraid that the walls of my house were going to crumble upon me, the other fear was if I go outside the house, the water would sweep me away, so I was afraid of being inside and outside the house," Faife added.

Faife lost all his crops growing in his farm, as well as poultry and livestock which were swept away when the cyclone struck.

He says he was one of the beneficiaries who received immediate assistance from voluntary organizations such as Voluntary Service Overseas and the EU Aid Volunteers, which provided those hit by the cyclone, with food, shelter, and clothes, among other emergency relief services.

“We were taken to a school shelter by volunteers, for food relief. The help arrived after remaining hungry for so long. They gave us maize meal, rice soup, salt and cooking oil which everyone was desperate for.”

A year later, Faife had a makeshift house, previously made out of stone, of mud and twigs. He says: "But it is a home, what we want most is water and food.”

Food scarcity for Cyclone Idai survivors, like Faife who lost everything, is their greatest problem.

The competition for food, clean, and potable water is high, with little available, and sold at exorbitant prices due to high demand and scarce resources.

Susana Kapitao Oliva, a mother of five children from Macate in Chimoio, Mozambique, spent over four days in waist-deep water without food, having lost all her possessions and separated from her family.

“We had nothing to eat and our houses were destroyed, we had nowhere to sleep, it was a terrible situation.

“Right now, our main problem is with livelihoods projects. Our main source of income was destroyed. Most of us were just farmers, there is [now] no food and clean water, most water sources are still polluted, we just want any form of aid,” Susana said.

Environmental impact

Sewage systems were either blocked, over-flooded or damaged mixing the sewer water with clean water for drinking, with damaged sewer systems most of the polluted water is draining into the Indian Ocean threatening flora and Fauna.

Fishers have complained that a year since it struck the cyclone has not only affected their primary source of livelihood but also their main source of food which comes from fishing along the 2,300-kilometer (1,430-mile) stretch of the ocean coast that lines Mozambique.

“Fish close to the land died because of untreated raw sewage, now people have to search deep for fish, there is a scarcity of food despite living next to the ocean,” Aderito Adia, a local fisherman, said.

Some of the survivors of the cyclone have turned into cutting mangrove trees for fuel, threatening marine flora and fauna. This short-term income has gone to rebuilding their homes at the expense of destruction to the environment, especially coral islands.

Others have turned to the sale of game meat and hunting wildlife to earn a living which has severely reduced wildlife populations already largely affected due to the civil war in Mozambique in 1977-1992.

Augusta de Fatima Charifo Maita from the Institute of Disaster Management in Mozambique told the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction that the country's greatest lesson it learned from Cyclone Idai is improving its early warning system.

“How the information can be transferred from the central to the local level [is significant]. Sometimes we feel that people know what is going to happen, but they just don’t believe, sometimes they don’t even react.

“As a country, we really need to further invest in more resilient infrastructure. It's not only about rebuilding better, but also about building to last,” Fatima said.