Project News

Last year, from March 14 to 15, 2019, Cyclone Idai struck Beira City bringing strong winds and heavy rains as well as causing a significant number of casualties and damages to houses, schools, and public facilities. After one year from this disaster, the Beira Municipality held the one-year commemorative event of Cyclone Idai in Beira City from March 9 to 14, 2020.

Memorial monument was unveiled in Beira City: Applying knowledge gained from the training in Japan

More than 400 Beira citizens participated in the commemorative event. During this occasion, a memorial monument was unveiled in the square of Maquinino area in Beira City. The installation of the monument is based on the idea of "Passing disaster experiences on to future generations," which was discussed during the 1st training in Japan (held in February 2020). The launch of the monument became possible as the Beira Municipality officials, the graduates of the training, immediately took action within two weeks after returning to Mozambique. Mr. José Mpango, who is a graduate of the training and serves as a municipality official for urban development, said, "This monument shows the need to increase resilience against natural disasters such as cyclone and encourages citizens to unite towards the recovery and reconstruction of Beira City."

Commemorative photo of Beira Municipality officials (graduates of the training) with Beira City Mayor (center). Mr. Mpango is the first one from the right.

A wide variety of commemorative events

The one-year commemorative event consisted of a wide range of activities; a memorial prayer session, movie streaming about Cyclone Idai, panel discussion, photo exhibition, youth debate session, performance, soccer games in the municipal stadium, cleaning activity at the beach and tree planting.

Particularly in the panel discussion held from 8 am to 12:30 pm on March 9, there were various panelists from JICA, Sofala Province State Secretary Representative, Sofala Provincial Directorate of Health, Sofala Provincial Directorate of Education and Human Development, Red Cross, UN-Habitat and other international institutions, as well as entrepreneurs and civil society organizations. In the discussion, the current recovery status after the cyclone was reported. Panelists also talked about solutions and challenges in the waste management system, response to residents living in disaster risk areas, swift execution of evaluation plans at disasters, and collaboration with universities in urban planning. Furthermore, some key topics were highlighted, such as "reconstruction of coastal protection wall," "improvement of the drainage and wastewater system," "construction of retention pond," "housing construction on the hill," and "planting erosion-resistant trees along the coast."

Raising awareness on disaster prevention through the commemorative event

This one-year commemorative event of Cyclone Idai had given citizens a great opportunity to raise awareness on disaster prevention and reunited them towards the recovery and reconstruction of their city. In the process of creating the recovery and reconstruction plan and boosting awareness on disaster prevention in Beira City, it is crucial to consider ways to pass disaster experiences on to future generations without forgetting them. The Beira Municipality will continue taking the initiative and collaborating with this project to organize community events, evacuation drills, and workshops on education for disaster prevention.

At last, we sincerely hope for the earliest recovery of Beira City from Cyclone Idai.

Citizens praying in the event.

The memorial monument. The monument describes "This monument commemorates victims of Cyclone Idai. Beira City, damaged significantly by Cyclone Idai on March 14 to 15, 2019, has united to enhance resilience against climate change. Mayor, Daviz Mbepo Simango, March 14, 2020."