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A newborn being resuscitated in the light of headlamps during a power outage. He survived. (Nhamatanda, Mosambique.) The devastation of cyclone Idai in Ngangu village in Chimanimani district. The village is located on high land on mountaneous area. The heavy rains of the cyclone, accompanied by strong winds, softened the mountainsides causing them to fall down, creating landslides that could rather be described as fast moving stone rivers. Those rivers then rushed through the village destroying everything on their way. Houses, cars and hundreds of people were buried underneath the stones or carried away with the water, some even as far as 10km away. The cyclone hit the village at night, so many people were already sleeping and did not have time to escape when the stones rolled over the village. Them whom were awake, saw their neighbours being flushed away in the lighting that occured when the stones hit each other while rolling down. (Ngangu, Chimanimani, Zimbabwe) “I found the material for this car from a trash bin. I’ve made these earlier as well, so this is not the first one. Sometimes my friends ask me to make these for them. I never sell them to them, I just give them.” - Gift, 11 years old, living in a camp in Mwalija after her home village in the same area was completely destroyed by flooding. (Chikwawa district, Malawi) Zimbabwe Red Cross Society volunteer Tendai Hitopo viewing the destruction of Ngangu village. Hitopo lives in the village by himself and was, together with a couple of other volunteers, the first ones to help when the disaster hit the village. Hitopo organized a group of people to help others out off the rubble, provided first aid, established an evacuation centre and helped villagers to identify their dead loved ones. The group of volunteers worked in the village alone for four days before the sky cleared enough for the help to fly in. (Ngangu, Chimanimani, Zimbabwe) Technical team setting up electricity in a field hospital. (Nhamatanda, Mosambique) Zimbabwe Red Cross Humanitarian Ambassador, musician Alick Macheso (aka Baba Sahro), took part to the distribution that targeted people affected by the cyclone. Macheso said it is important to show people that they are not left alone. (Chipinge, Zimbabwe) People who lost their homes to the flood waters queuing to receive relief items in an emergency camp. (Nsanje, Malawi) "My home, where I was living with my husband and two children, was totally destroyed in the flooding. We lost everything. Now we're staying in this camp, living in this tiny maze hut, there's barely enough food, we don't have any beddings and only a few kitchen utensils. We're planning to build our new home on higher ground in order to be safe in the future." -Chifuniro (Nsanje, Malawi) "The weather forecast was telling about the upcoming cyclone but we did not believe it. Then when it started raining, we thought at first that it's just a normal rain. But it got stronger and stronger and it was immensely windy. Trees were falling all over and many houses collapsed. I thought we're not gonna make it. I feel it's hard to trust in nature anymore. The past three years have been so unpredictable. Anything can happen nowadays." -Mathias (Chipinge, Zimbabwe) Army loading emergency food parcels onto a truck on the yard of a local Red Cross branch office. (Ngangu, Chimanimani, Zimbabwe) M1 road near Kamuzu Bridge in Chikwawa district was destroyed by flooding. (Malawi) Mary was pregnant when the flood waters rushed through her home village and she needed to climb a tree in order to stay safe. She was worried that she and her unborn would both die. But then a boat appeared to a rescue. A few days later her baby was born in the emergency camp. (Nsanje, Malawi)



Aftermath of Cyclone Idai / Malawi, Zimbabawe and Mosambique 2019 / for IFRC
© Saara Mansikkamäki 2025