Chimanimani – Over 300 families in Chimanimani area are yet to obtain adequate shelter after their community was ravaged by cyclone Idai two years ago, ENN reports.
Chimanimani district is situated in the mountainous province of Manicaland, which is located 500 kilometres southeast of Harare, in Zimbabwe. In the height of the havoc caused by cyclone Idai in mid-March of 2019, several local and international corporates chipped in to evacuate and provide basic needs to survivors, including food, clothing, health assistance and temporary shelter. Some corporates assisted in giving befitting burials to the deceased. In the wake of this devastating natural disaster, several people have not been found, as some were buried alive by the landslides, whilst others were swept away into oblivion by the heavy downpours of cyclone Idai.
It is now two years after Zimbabwe endured this devastating disaster which left over 270 000 people homeless, and killing at least 1,303 people. The cyclone tore through Madagascar, Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe, destroying crops, infrastructure and homes. The United Nations United Nations described it as “one of the worst weather-related catastrophes in the history of Africa”. Ironically, over 300 cyclone Idai victims in Chimanimani are still staying in temporary camps despite the promises made by the government to urgently cater for their needs by constructing new houses. Today, connecting roads in the Chimanimani area remain in a deplorable state – a cumulative result of the abandoned damages of March 2019.
“I am here wearing two hats, one, I am representing my leader and leader of our country President Emerson Mnangagwa who would want to know the progress we have made”, said the Zimbabwe vice president and Health Minister Constatino Chiwenga during his address to Chimanimani community yesterday.
“I am here also as a minister of Health and Child Care. I want to acquaint myself with the state of health care provision. But at the core of it all, is to fix the terrible experience that befell us when were struck by cyclone Idai”, Chiwenga further said.
Admitting to the deplorable state of roads in Chimanimani Chiwenga was further quoted saying that he had been advised that the road that connects Kopa and Jopa is in a very bad state. “We want to see to it that this road is fixed before the onset of the next rains,” said Chiwenga. On the back of the Covid-19 pandemic, a perpetual political crisis and a fragile economy, Zimbabwe is confronted by a social security crisis, a situation that is proving to be beyond the financial capacity of its government. Access to food, shelter and basic healthcare facilities
