The
devastating earthquake in southern Africa last week continues to rise, with
more than 700 dead Sunday.
The Minister of Land and
Environment of Mozambique, Celso Correira, said today, the death toll in his
country alone to 446 people, adding that 531 thousand others were affected by
the consequences of the cyclone, and 110 thousand of them temporarily settled
in camps.
The cyclone, which hit a
speed of 170 km per hour on Friday, swept coastal areas in central Mozambique,
causing massive floods, to hit Zimbabwe and Malawi.
More than a week after
the disaster, the United Nations warns that the situation in the affected areas
remains extremely difficult, with some people still stranded on the roofs of
their homes and those affected by food shortages amid an escalation of serious
diseases such as cholera.
The United Nations
Children's Fund (UNICEF), Henrietta Fur, said that the World Organization was
facing difficulties even in assessing the extent of the damage, explaining that
some villages had been completely flooded and destroyed homes, schools and
medical centers.
The level of water in
the Zambezi river is falling slowly, according to the Mozambican government,
but the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has warned of
the risk of new floods if further rainfall occurs in the region.