This project also includes a documentary series on the aftermath of cyclone, which can be viewed here.
Estaquinha, Mozambique - 07/04/2019
Alberto Agosto Sora and his family in what is left of their house. From left to right: Joaquim Marquas, Jose Alberto Sora, Delfina Alberto Sora, Alberto Agosto Sora, Vasco Fernando, Augusto Alberto Sora and Maria Jose Gumbo.
‘First, the wind took away the roof of our house’ Alberto explains. ‘Then came the rain. When the water came to our knees and had destroyed all of our possessions, we had to flee to higher grounds. We want to rebuild our house of course, but we don‘t even have enough money to buy food.’
Alberto and his family live in Estaquinha, a village just outside of the flooded area in Buzi district, Mozambique. In the days following cyclone Idai, an area of 3,000 square kilometers was flooded. Many of the people from surrounding villages fled to higher grounds near Estaquinha when the water in river Busi started rising. They now share a few tents set up by NGOs with the villagers of Estaquinha. Some still sleep outside, exposed to the elements and as NGOs fear, at risk from Malaria.
Buzi Village, Mozambique - 11/04/2019
Cartusa Simao (age 43) and August Manus Joachim (age 41) in what is left of Bairro Inhabirira Hospital. Cartusa and August work as janitors in the Buzi district hospital.
'When the cyclone hit, there was chaos in the hospital', says August. 'Many people were injured and came in for treatment. A day after the cyclone came the flood. Some of the patients were evacuated to Beira by boat or by helicopter. Others fled to higher grounds.'
August fled to a small local football stadium, where people sat on top rows, waiting for the water to retreat. 'There was a tall building nearby, where helicopters were dropping aid. We used a canoe to get it back to the stadium.'
Cartusa and his family fled to the roof of a deserted factory on the other side of town. ‘Helicopters were dropping drinking water and biscuits into the flood, as there was nowhere for them to land.’ he says. ‘We had to swim to get to it.’
Cartusa and August were stuck for six days until the flood finally retreated.
Kopa, Zimbabwe - 03/04/2019
Opah Magodo is standing on the rocks of a landslide at the place where her house used to be.
Opah lived next to the police station in the village Kopa. Many people from the village came there for protection when cyclone Idai started getting stronger. They could not have known that the station was about to be hit by an all-destroying stream of mud and rocks that came bouldering down from the surrounding mountains. 'Soon, everyone was trapped there,' says Opah. 'Two men on a dry patch of land had thrown us a rope they had attached around a tree. We managed to catch it. I made it out first, but when my husband grabbed it, too many people were already holding on to it. The rope broke and he disappeared in the landslide together with many others.’
Opah’s husband is still missing, humanitarian organizations estimate over 200 people were killed in the Kopa landslide.
Manga Mascarenhas, Beira, Mozambique - 09/04/2019
FLTR: Masada Augusto, Julia Lois, Misaelle Lois, Carlitos Fransisco and Louisa José.
The family of five is sitting in the old bedroom of their house in Manga Mascarenhas, Beira. 'The wind of cyclone Idai destroyed our house,' Julia says as she puts Misaelle on her lap. 'We were afraid this would happen, so we fled to a neighbor’s house for shelter. If we had not done that, we would have been inside when the house collapsed.’
Julia says they want to rebuild their house. ‘We are going into the city every day to look for work,’ she says. ‘But it is hard to earn money now. Sometimes I do the dishes for people, but the money we get from that we use for food.’
Manga Mascarenhas, Beira, Mozambique - 09/04/2019
Katharina Joao (age 14) and Kina Klemente (age 16) in what is left of their houses.
Katharina and Kina are neighbors in Manga Mascarenhas, a poor district at the outskirts of the city Beira. Their houses are almost completely destroyed. ‘During the cyclone, we were afraid that the house would collapse, so we went outside,’ says Katharina. ‘One of our neighbors has a minivan. We stayed in that van until it was over’. Kina says there were over 30 people in the van during the cyclone: ‘the van saved all of us’.
Kopa, Zimbabwe - 03/04/2019
Gladyman Chinaka on the site of a landslide in his village Kopa.
‘When I woke up in the morning, everything had changed,’ says Gladyman Chinaka, a 20-year-old from the mountain village of Kopa. He was lucky to be sleeping in a house just outside the area affected by the landslide. It is now one of the only houses still standing
‘There used to be a road here,’ he says, ‘then houses, and then a school. Now all you see is rocks. I lost my friend Tatinda.’ Tatinda lived in a house now washed away or covered by the boulders. ‘On the day after the cyclone I went to look for him, but I did not find him anywhere. They say he was washed away by cyclone Idai. We used to sit on the same desk in school and we shared ideas about the classes.’
Bigaji, Buzi, Mozambique - 07/04/2019
Zacharia Zaceui, Sarah Alberto and Joanna Lopes in front of what’s left of their house.
The family of three is re-building their home in the Bigaji area, in the center of an area that was flooded after cyclone Idai. Shortly after the cyclone passed, the river Buzi started flooding. It could not handle the excess rainwater falling upstream. The family’s house was fully submerged underwater for days. ‘When the flood came, we ran to a mango tree next to our house’, Zacharia says. ‘We climbed in and stayed there for three days, waiting for the water to retreat.’ The family survived on green maize and drank the water from the flood. They now sleep under some branches behind the remains of their house, exposed to the elements and at risk from Malaria.
Bandua, Buzi district, Mozambique - 07/04/2021
From left to right: Raoul Phillipe, Joseph Antonio Manuel, Fortuna Phillipe, Manjara Chama, Fernando Francisco, Alfred Cossa and Johan Chicate.
‘When the flood came, many people from the nearby village Bandua came here, to higher grounds,’ Joseph says. 'We climbed on the roof of one of the buildings, but that was not high enough. There was a large tree nearby. We made a rope tying together people’s clothes and someone swam to the tree to tie it down. We managed to get everyone in that tree. In the end, it was packed with people spread out over its branches.’
Joseph says they waited days for the water to retreat enough for them to be able to get inside the school. Everyone had survived.
Tica, Mozambique - 09/04/2019
Mataia is standing in front of the house where he used to live with his wife and 7 sons.
Mataia makes a living selling small affairs on a local market in Tika. The family sleeps there now, in his shop’s market stand on the floor. The crops surrounding the house are cassava. ‘Without these crops, it will be difficult for us to survive.' he says. ‘We would like to move to another location on higher grounds, but we don’t have the money to do that.’
Mataia says they will wait for the flood to fully retreat and then repair the damage to their house, even though he knows that it might flood again.
Rathmore, Zimbabwe - 31/03/2019
Richard Pedaid standing in front of what is left of his house. Marks from a mudslide caused by cyclone Idai are visible on the walls.
On the night of the mudslide, Richard Pedai lost his wife and three children. He says it was 11 pm when a flood of water and mud started forming through the compound of Rathmore. ‘The boys were already sleeping’ he says. ‘Very soon, the water was too high to open the door, so we had to get out through the window. I told my wife to climb out and went to the bedroom to help the boys. When my wife climbed out of the window, the roof of the veranda came down and hit her in the head. She was taken by the mudslide. As I climbed out, I saw the first houses of our block being swept off their foundation. Then, I was also taken. The water took me down into the valley, away from my boys.’
‘The first thing I remember is that I was standing on a rock near the shore. There was water everywhere and it was pitch black. I used the light from the lightning to find my way back up the mountain. After a while I saw two beams of light, it was people looking for survivors. I screamed for help, but the sound of the water rushing down was too loud. When they finally saw me, they threw me a rope and rescued me. I have not seen my wife and children since.’
Buzi village, Mozambique - 11/04/2019
Alberto Chipembe and his daughter Helena Alberto are sitting in what is left of the church in which they once prayed.
The day after cyclone Idai passed their village, Helena found her mother under the rubbles of her house, she had not made it. Her body was found under a mattress, she had probably used it to protect herself when the house collapsed. 'When we saw the house, I felt terrible, Helene says. 'I knew my mother had left us'. The funeral was held that morning.
Alberto was out of town the night his wife died. He could not make it back in time for the funeral because authorities had restricted access to the area, the river Buzi was starting to flood.
When the flood arrived in Buzi village, Helena was still mourning the death of her mother. The water came to her hips when she took her children and used a small canoe to make it to the other side of the village. There, they got on the roof of a guest house and waited for seven days until the flood finally retreated. They drank the water from the flood and ate biscuits from the aid dropped by helicopters flying by. When she got back to her house, she found it in rubble too.
‘Every day now, we have to stand in line for food,’ she says. 'We live by hoping that our situation will one day change'.