BEIRA, Mozambique - Cyclone Idai’s deadly hit has left some 1.85 million people in need of assistance in Mozambique in a catastrophe that United Nations chief Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday rang “yet another alarm bell” about climate change.
While scientists say single weather events cannot be attributed to climate change, they say global warming is causing more extreme rainfall and storms, sweltering heatwaves, shrinking harvests and worsening water shortages around the world. “We are testing as we go,” said Rob Holden, the World Health Organization’s incident manager in the capital Maputo. “But nonetheless we are treating acute watery diarrhea, it’s the same as treating cholera. That’s just the diagnosis.”
Cholera is spread by faeces in sewage-contaminated water or food, and outbreaks can develop quickly in a humanitarian crisis where sanitation systems are disrupted. It can kill within hours if left untreated. The International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday it will consider emergency financial assistance in Mozambique under an IMF Rapid Credit Facility. While it was still early to precisely assess the cyclone’s macroeconomic effects and reconstruction costs, “these will be very significant”, the IMF said in a statement.
Where was climate change in the 1880s 1930s 70s when Mozambique had destructive cyclones like ALWaYs in their rainy seasons ...hmmm
Bolloxs
The Green deal has been shut down in Washington, so those alarm bells are not ringing very loudly.