In wake of deadly cyclone in Mozambique, a hunt for bodies and long wait for aid
People from the town of Buzi unload from a boat at Beira Port after being rescued on Friday in Beira, Mozambique. Thousands of people are still stranded after Cyclone Idai hit the country last week. By Max Bearak Max Bearak Africa bureau chief based in Nairobi Email Bio Follow March 23 at 12:25 PM BUZI, Mozambique — In the week since Cyclone Idai triggered unprecedented flooding in central Mozambique, there have been speculative death tolls in the thousands, but barely any bodies recovered.
On Saturday, the Mozambican government said the official death toll from flooding here stood at 417, but President Filipe Nyusi speculated earlier this week that more than 1,000 had likely died. Some here fear the number of dead might ultimately be far higher. “It will be heartbreaking once we know the full extent,” said Sebastian Rhodes Stampa, who is directing the U.N.’s response, as he has for other massive tropical storms such as Typhoon Haiyan in 2016 in the Philippines, which killed more than 10,000 per his estimate. “Most of the bodies were likely swept out to sea and may or may not ever wash ashore.”
In a Red Cross news release on Friday, the organization said that the town of Buzi, along the river of the same name, “had reportedly disappeared, with the water as high as the palm trees.” When we reached Buzi, however, the river was back within its banks, and the surrounding fields were draining rapidly.
At another point along the river, where the bloated corpses of two cows floated right down the middle, the shouts of a group of 10 people waving their arms on the bank were barely audible over the roar of the boats. A bit shaken by the experience in Buzi, the Indians only decided to rescue them after being implored by a reporter.
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