With your help, we were able to bring significant relief to Mozambique in the wake of Cyclone Idai, and six weeks later, Cyclone Kenneth. Here is some of what you made possible.

Responding quickly

Our dedicated DC-8 cargo plane is available to respond quickly in situations of crisis, and so our team were able to arrive in Mozambique within days of the cyclone.

Since 21 March, our DC-8 has made four return trips, in which it transported a total 90 tonnes of relief supplies.

Reaching the hard to reach

Our smaller DC-3 aircraft, which is based in Africa, provided access to hard to reach areas by shuttling supplies and medical personnel in 17 return trips.

Scenes of devastation

Our first team to arrive in Mozambique included disaster relief specialists, and medical personnel. They landed at Maputo Airport on 23 March, and sent this video message.

Responding to medical and physical needs

An early assessment of medical needs determined that our Emergency Field Hospital would be deployed and established in Buzi, one of the areas hit hardest by wind and flooding. These tent structures immediately became a place of hope and healing for the people of Buzi.

In the Emergency Field Hospital, our team cared for over 5,700 patients, including those suffering from injuries sustained during the cyclone, and illnesses contracted from stagnant flood waters. We also delivered 40 babies, and this includes performing 17 life-saving emergency C-sections.

For more insights from our team in the Emergency Field Hospital, watch this video.

As around 200,000 homes had been destroyed or damaged during the cyclone, shelter represented an urgent need. Our team distributed over 16,000 shelter tarps and 4,600 blankets.

We worked in partnership with the World Food Programme to provide food rations for 7,500 families. Alongside distributing over 3,000 water filters, we were able to rehabilitate 250 existing boreholes and wells that were contaminated by flooding.

Some hardest places to reach, we travelled to by boat. At one stage, our teams travelled 30 miles upriver by boat each day to bring aid to 1,600 families in three isolated villages who had lost almost everything. Unbeknown to us, one of the village leaders had prayed for God to send help, as his village had never received aid after previous storms. Soon afterwards— and much to the joy of the village—our boats arrived with tarps, water filters, mosquito nets, and blankets.

Responding spiritually

Samaritan’s Purse stands ready to respond to critical needs following disasters, and wherever we go, we do it in Jesus’ Name. Where possible we respond in partnership with ministry partners on the ground, and local churches. Your support of our Mozambique cyclone relief efforts enabled us to rapidly deploy to devastated areas with a variety of aid to meet immediate needs and gave us a platform to share the love of Christ.