Cyclone Idai and Kenneth Children's Relief Fund

Cyclone Idai tore through central Mozambique on Friday 15 March 2019. The cyclone left a trail of destroyed homes, schools, hospitals and infrastructure. Torrential rain lashed the region and flood waters engulfed entire communities. According to the Government of Mozambique, 1.85 million people have been impacted, including 900,000 children.

Save the Children was one of the first to respond to Cyclone Idai and has provided emergency assistance in the four affected provinces of Manica, Sofala, Tete and Zambezia. We have distributed food and relief items such as tents, tarpaulins, mosquito nets and jerry cans; established Child Friendly Spaces and Temporary Learning Centres to ensure that children have a safe place to play, learn and receive psychosocial support; and provided families with seeds and tools so they can replant their crops.

Cassandra, 17, gave birth to baby Francisco less than two months after Cyclone Idai hit. Cassandra and her husband’s house could not withstand the wind and rain and collapsed. They do not have the money to rebuild their house, so they are living under a shelter made of grass.

They live in a very remote area without access to basic services. It took Cassandra eight hours to walk to the nearest hospital where she gave birth. Save the Children’s Emergency Health Unit visits Cassandra’s community each week with a mobile clinic, delivering life-saving healthcare for children and families impacted by Cyclone Idai. Our mobile teams of nurses, doctors, nutritionists and midwives are providing antenatal and postnatal care, vaccinations and treatment for diseases such as malaria and diarrhea. The teams are also identifying malnourished children and providing them with life-saving therapeutic food and referring them on for further care.

Cassandra went to the clinic because she had been unwell since Francisco’s birth and she also wanted to ensure her baby was healthy. Save the Children’s midwife gave Francisco a full check up and prescribed medication for an infection.

Save the Children’s doctor tested Cassandra for malaria. Luckily, her test came back negative, however, the doctor prescribed her with some supplements to build back her strength after the birth.

Thanks to the support of donors like you, we are able to continue providing services to impacted children and families like Cassandra's. Thank you so much for your support! 

On Friday, March 15, Cyclone Idai made landfall in central Mozambique. Winds of up to 110 mph swept across the countryside, destroying homes, schools, hospitals and roads. The weeks before the storm had seen heavy rain, and with Idai dumping torrents of water, rivers burst their banks. Whole communities were submerged under filthy, fast-moving floodwater. Many families had to climb onto the roofs of their homes or into trees to escape.

Crops were destroyed. Livestock were lost. Families were left with nothing. No food, no shelter. Everything they owned was gone. It’s a day no one will ever forget – especially children who had never seen anything like it before.

But the rampage wasn’t over when Idai finally released its grip on Mozambique. In neighboring Malawi and Zimbabwe, the torrential rains continued over already saturated provinces. Rivers there also overflowed, creating similar flooding. Families who had the fewest means to deal with a disaster were even more vulnerable.

Thanks to you, Save the Children teams in all three countries were on the ground within hours. With your support, we were there to help families find food, shelter and safety. And in the following weeks and months, we’ve supported people as they began rebuilding their lives.

Please see the attached PDF for details on our response, including providing food, clean water, restoring access to learning, and protecting children in the aftermath. 

• Six Month Report, Cyclone Idai (PDF)