Page 10 - ARUBA TODAY

A10 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 19 March 2019

Over 1,000 feared dead after cyclone slams into Mozambique

By ANDREW MELDRUM to be the deadliest storm significantly, they have
Associated Press in generations to hit the no way of knowing if it will
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — impoverished southeast Af- reach the president’s esti-
More than 1,000 people rican country of 30 million mate.
were feared dead in Mo- people. The destruction in Beira is
zambique four days after a It struck Beira, an Indian “massive and horrifying,”
cyclone slammed into the Ocean port city of a half- said Jamie LeSueur, who
country, submerging entire million people, late Thurs- led a Red Cross team that
villages and leaving bodies day and then moved in- had to assess the damage
floating in the floodwaters, land to Zimbabwe and Ma- by helicopter because of
the nation’s president said. lawi with strong winds and the flooded-out roads.
“It is a real disaster of great heavy rain. But it took days More than 215 people were
proportions,” President Fili- for the scope of the disas- killed by the storm in the
pe Nyusi said. ter to come into focus in three countries, including
Cyclone Idai could prove Mozambique, which has a 89 in Zimbabwe, accord-
In this photo taken on Friday, March 15, 2019 and provided by ing to official figures. Hun-
the International Red Cross, people carry their personal effects dreds more were reported
after Tropical Cyclone Idai, in Beira, Mozambique. missing. Mozambique is a
Associated Press long, narrow country with a
poor communication and the road towards the hous- 2,400-kilometer (1,500-mile)
transportation network and es and we fled,” Francisco coastline along the Indian
a corrupt and inefficient Carlitos told Lusa, the Por- Ocean. It is prone to cy-
bureaucracy. tuguese News Agency. clones and tropical storms
Speaking on state Radio The family lost their home this time of year.
Mozambique, Nyusi said and possessions but safely In 2000, Mozambique was
that while the official death reached higher ground. hit by severe flooding
toll stood at 84, “It appears The country’s president, caused by weeks of heavy
that we can register more who cut short a visit to rain, a disaster made much
than 1,000 deaths.” neighboring Swaziland over worse when a cyclone hit.
U.N. agencies and the Red the weekend because of Approximately 700 people
Cross helped rush emer- the disaster, spoke after fly- were killed in what was re-
gency food and medicine ing by helicopter over Beira garded as the worst flood-
by helicopter to the strick- and two rural provinces, ing in 50 years.
en countries. where he reported wide- Mozambique won inde-
Mount Chiluvo in central spread devastation. pendence from Portu-
Mozambique was badly hit “The waters of the Pungue gal in 1975 and then was
by flooding. One resident and Buzi rivers overflowed, plagued by a long-running
said he heard a loud noise, making whole villages dis- civil war that ended in
like an explosion, and sud- appear and isolating com- 1992. Its economy is domi-
denly saw a river of mud munities, and bodies are nated by agriculture, and
rolling toward his home. floating,” Nyusi said. its exports include prawns,
“I was indoors with my chil- Emergency officials cau- cotton, cashews, sugar,
dren, but when we looked tioned that while they ex- coconuts and tropical
we saw mud coming down pect the death toll to rise hardwood timber.q

Turkey announces operation against

Kurdish rebels

Associated Press The PKK has been waging an insurgency
ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey has announced a for more than three decades, and is con-
military operation against Kurdish militants sidered a terror group by Turkey and its
along its eastern border with Iran. Western allies. Turkey regularly conducts
Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu says airstrikes in northern Iraq against PKK camps
the operation against the outlawed Kurd- and has cracked down on the group and
istan Workers’ Party, or PKK, began Mon- alleged supporters since a peace process
day. He described it as a joint operation collapsed in 2015.
with Iran, but Iran’s official IRNA news ser- The PKK-affiliated Kurdistan Free Life Party,
vice quoted an unnamed military official or PJAK, was formed in 2004 to fight for
as saying Iranian forces were not involved. Kurdish autonomy in Iran.q