cyclone

Cyclone Eloise, which recently hit Sofala province central Mozambique, compounded by covid-19 and the economic fallout from previous climate-fuelled disasters, has crippled people's ability to recover, and left over 260 thousand people in desperate need of humanitarian aid, said Oxfam.

Cyclone Amphan has left a trail of devastation throughout north-east India and the Bangladesh coast, with over 80 deaths reported so far, destroying homes, embankments and crops, and compounding the suffering in many communities already hit by coronavirus and the impact of the lockdown.

Cyclone Amphan, the strongest ever cyclone recorded over the Bay of Bengal, is expected to hit north-east India and Bangladesh tomorrow (Wednesday, 20 May) threatening millions of people in vulnerable communities already affected by Covid-19 outbreaks and lockdown.  

Almost one million Rohingya people in the world's largest refugee camp are facing the added threat of a cyclone as the first cases of Covid-19 are confirmed, Oxfam warned today. The Cyclone, which looks likely to form off the coast over the weekend, could bring further suffering and destruction to the camps on top of a potentially devastating health crisis.

Around the world, devastation caused by climate-related events is growing, forcing people from their homes, bringing poverty on top of poverty and increasing hunger. For Oxfam, this is an issue of justice: those living in poverty are the hardest hit by climate change despite being the least responsible for the crisis. It's time to act now.

Battered by cyclones and ravaged by extreme drought, poor communities in the Horn of Africa and Mozambique have found themselves on the front line of a climate crisis they did little to create.

The “Global Report on Food Crises”, released today by the Food Security Information Network, says that more than 113 million people across 53 countries experienced acute hunger and required urgent food, nutrition and livelihoods assistance in 2018. This is a human-made crisis caused by conflict, climate change, and a broken global food system, says Oxfam France’s Executive Director Cécile Duflot.

As Oxfam leaders from across the world, attending our annual board meetings in Kenya, we send our solidarity to the people of Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Malawi whose lives have been devastated by cyclone Idai. Our hearts go out to the families of those who have perished, and the more than 2.6 million people who have been robbed of precious livelihoods, homes and lands. Many of these people were already struggling to make ends meet and living in communities with fragile infrastructures such as roads, water and power. 

Access to clean water and sanitation will be one of the greatest needs in Fiji’s Tropical Cyclone Winston response, and must be prioritised, Oxfam said today. Clean water for drinking and hand washing is essential for the prevention of waterborne diseases after a disaster.

The Fijian Government is still trying to contact areas that haven’t been heard from since being struck by Severe Tropical Cyclone Winston on the weekend. Oxfam in the Pacific Regional Director Raijeli Nicole said communication blackspots were making it very hard to assess damage and determine the scale of the response required.