UK aid to fly heavy-lifting gear to cyclone-hit airport in Mozambique

The UK is due to send forklift trucks and other cargo handling equipment to cyclone-hit Mozambique, to help quickly unload aid from planes and cut the time it takes to get relief items to those in need, International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt announced.

The flight, which is scheduled to leave from Doncaster-Sheffield airport, is in addition to a flight containing over 7,500 shelter kits and 100 family tents which arrived in Mozambique earlier.

“We are only just beginning to see the true impact of this devastating cyclone. Sadly, much of the infrastructure at airports and other buildings has either been destroyed or washed away. UK aid is now in the region worst hit by the cyclone. A plane due to leave from the UK will contain forklifts, lifting platforms and other airfield equipment to help aid workers move supplies from the airport to the worst-hit towns and villages,” said International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt. 

Following the British public’s generosity to the Disaster Emergency Committee’s appeal, which has now raised £8 million for Cyclone Idai victims, the UK will match pound-for-pound a further £2 million of donations. This new support, in addition, the previous £2 million the UK agreed to aid match, will double the impact of the public’s own donations. This takes the UK’s support for the DEC appeal to £4 million, and total response to the crisis to £22 million.

DFID has also sent additional humanitarian experts from the UK to support the UK’s response on the ground. They will help the teams in the region to assess needs and coordinate relief efforts.

UK aid has also supported the World Food Programme to deliver airdrops of high-energy biscuits to isolated pockets of people stranded by floodwaters in Beira. UK support is also delivering easy-to-prepare fortified food to displaced families sheltering in schools and other public buildings in the town of Dondo.

Original source: DFID
Published on 22 March 2019