IFRC launches multi-country appeal for Cyclone Chido
By the Climate Centre
The IFRC this week announced it was launching an emergency appeal worth 10 million Swiss francs to assist 100,000 people affected by Cyclone Chido in the Comoros, Madagascar, Malawi and Mozambique, while coordinating with the French Red Cross through its own work in Mayotte.
A press release issued in Geneva and Nairobi said there would be a “holistic response”, including cash, shelter, livelihoods, healthcare, water and sanitation, and safeguarding.
Preliminary assessments suggest more than 600,000 people were affected by Chido in Mozambique, with over 130,000 shelters damaged or destroyed, and at least 64,000 in the Comoros, “with homes, schools, and agricultural land severely impacted,” the IFRC adds.
In Malawi, over 45,000 people have been affected, as well as 70 per cent of the entire population of the French territory of Mayotte, where over 35,000 houses were destroyed.
Naemi Heita, Head of the IFRC Country Cluster Delegation for Mozambique and Angola, said: “As assessments are still ongoing to determine the full extent of the damage, the emerging needs of affected people include shelter, food, potable water, and health services, among others.
“We are concerned that these numbers could rise as emergency teams get access to areas cut off by flooding and destruction.”
Above-normal cyclone season?
The French Red Cross, meanwhile, said Thursday water remained a major problem in Mayotte; the society had fielded a team dedicated to cholera, although there were no reported cases to date.
The three main interventions of the French Red Cross on Mayotte were its home nursing service; its équipe mobile santé-précarité, comprising health professionals, doctors, and social workers reaching out to people in especially difficult or vulnerable situations; and a specialist water and sanitation team.
Its Indian Ocean Regional Intervention Platform (PIROI) was shortly sending from its Réunion base 200 hygiene kits, 500 jerrycans, 300 buckets, 1,000 bars of soap, and materials to assist with Red Cross work on restoring of family links.
As of 22 December, Chido has resulted in 94 deaths in Mozambique confirmed by the authorities, 35 in Mayotte, and 13 in Malawi, with thousands of people injured, the IFRC said.
The current outlook from Météo-France La Réunion, which covers cyclone activity in the south-west Indian Ocean for the World Meteorological Organization, had foreseen the possible early arrival of damaging cyclones after the season officially began in mid-November.
The regional cyclone season is expected to be characterized by near- to above-normal activity, with nine to 13 systems predicted, of which between four and seven may reach tropical cyclone status, according to the Météo-France outlook.
The IFRC emergency appeal, jump-started by a grant of nearly 3 million Swiss francs from the Disaster Response Emergency Fund, also includes a significant readiness component for 500,000 people.
Tropical Cyclone Chido is the third named south-west Indian Ocean storm after partly off-season Ancha and Bheki.
It was flagged as a threat in good time: Météo-France says it issued a cyclone pre-alert for Mayotte on 11th December at 15:00 local time, an amber alert on 13th at 07:00, a red alert that evening, upgraded to a rare purple alert on Saturday 14th at 07:00, with the storm making landfall several hours later.
‘Critical infrastructure’
The Mozambique Red Cross was also able to activate its early action protocols for cyclones and the Malagasy Red Cross was ahead of the curve assisting the authorities with emergency evacuations; but observers expect agencies across the region to be reviewing how effective evacuation warnings and procedures were in the countries affected.
Mayotte was very unlucky in that Chido – not an exceptional storm in itself – took a relatively unusual track, skirting north of the Madagascar land mass that would have blunted its impact on Mayotte and the Comoros archipelagos, and making it a rarity there.
As it was, the exceptionally warm waters this year in that part of the Indian Ocean will have added to the force of its impact. Chido windspeeds topped 200kph, with gusts of more than 225kph; its rainfall reached 176 mm in 12 hours; ocean waves exceeded five metres; and such was the strength of the cyclone that it destroyed some of Météo-France’s observational structure, WMO reported.
Climate Centre science lead Liz Stephens said earlier: “The intensity of tropical cyclones in the south-west Indian Ocean has been increasing, and this is consistent with what we expect in a changing climate: warmer oceans fuel more powerful storms.
“The tragic impacts of Cyclone Chido graphically demonstrate show how vulnerable small islands are to climate change. A single powerful storm can wipe out critical infrastructure like power, water supply, and communications across an entire island, making international support essential.
A 2020 study, quoted by the IPCC in its most recent assessment of the global climate, says there is already an observable upward trend in the intensity of cyclones globally that matches simulations, including “[l]arge and significant increases … in the southern Indian Ocean”.
A Mozambique Red Cross volunteer prepares villagers for the arrival of Cyclone Chido. (Photo: IFRC via social media)