Maputo, Dec 20 (IANS) Mozambique started Friday a two-day national mourning in honour of the victims of Cyclone Chido, which hit the country's northern provinces last weekend, leaving at least 73 people killed, more than 540 injured, and a trail of destruction.

In a televised address Thursday night, President Filipe Nyusi sent his condolences to families of the victims and to those affected by the calamity.

"To all those who directly or indirectly suffered from this calamity, my thoughts and the hearts of Mozambicans go out to the grieving families," the president said in his Communication to the Nation speech, delivered on the occasion of Family Day, Christmas, and the End of the Year.

"We will immediately prioritize support for the replacement of shelters, housing, food, energy, water, and the distribution of seeds, in addition to the other support that is taking place," he said, Xinhua news agency reported.

The cyclone, which struck the provinces of Cabo Delgado, Nampula, and Niassa, caused widespread devastation, displacing thousands and damaging critical infrastructure.

According to the latest update from INGD, the national disaster relief agency, the cyclone destroyed or damaged 36,207 homes, 49 healthcare facilities, 13 places of worship, 186 electricity poles, nine water systems, and 171 fishing boats. Additionally, 167 schools were impacted, affecting 15,429 students and 224 teachers.

Two emergency accommodation centers have been opened to house over 1,300 people in need of immediate assistance.

Humanitarian organisations have begun providing emergency aid while urgently seeking additional resources to help the more than 182,000 people affected.

The French Interior Ministry had detailed on Thursday that the official death toll from Cyclone Chido in France's Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte has risen to 31, with approximately 1,400 people injured.

A state of exceptional natural disaster was declared in the overseas department late Wednesday night. French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Mayotte on Thursday amid fears that the death toll could climb further in the coming days.

In a statement released late Wednesday, the caretaker Minister for Overseas Francois-Noel Buffet announced the activation of the state of the exceptional natural disaster in Mayotte to facilitate faster and more effective crisis management and implement emergency measures.

On Tuesday, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) expressed alarm over more than 200 of its volunteers feared missing after the cyclone ravaged the islands.

Mayotte, located in the Mozambique Channel of the Indian Ocean, is an overseas department and region of France. Situated off the southeastern coast of Africa, it lies between northwestern Madagascar and northeastern Mozambique.

Chido originated as a tropical depression in the southeastern Indian Ocean basin between December 7 and 8.

Cyclone Chidowas a tropical depression, characterised by a region of low atmospheric pressure over an ocean, accompanied by a circular wind pattern generated by thunderstorms. These systems exhibit maximum sustained wind speeds of 61 km/h or lower.

Should a tropical depression strengthen, it can evolve into a tropical storm, which is defined by wind speeds ranging from 62 km/h to 119 km/h. Winds exceeding this threshold classify the system as a tropical cyclone.

The terminology surrounding these systems can be somewhat confusing. In the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, and northeastern Pacific Ocean, tropical cyclones are referred to as hurricanes. Conversely, in the western Pacific Ocean, they are known as typhoons, while in the South Pacific and Indian Ocean, the term cyclone is used.

Courtesy Media Group: IANS

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