Missions

Cyclone Batsirai made landfall on the east coast of Madagascar on Saturday 5 February, with registered wind gusts of up to 235 km/h. Less than three weeks after, on 22 February, another powerful cyclone, Emnati, hit the same area. Thousands of people have been impacted and displaced.

After a powerful cyclone made landfall in Mozambique in the night between 14 and 15 March, TSF teams deployed to the coastal area of Beira to provide communication means to the affected population.

The flood of the Zambezi River exceeded the alert level by 3m at the beginning of 2008. More than 100,000 Mozambicans were displaced in temporary accommodation camps. At the request of UNCEF, TSF supported the ETC in the coordination centres of Mopeia, Caia and Mutarara. The team then traveled through the temporary camps to offer free calls to those affected. More than 1000 families were able to give news to their loved ones.

Weeks of heavy rains triggered flash floods along the Zambezi river and its tributaries, washing away homes, bridges, livestock and crops in four central provinces (Tete, Manica, Sofala and Zambezia). In coordination with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and Unicef, Télécoms Sans Frontières (TSF) responded to the emergency by deploying a first communication centre at the office of the National Disaster Management Institute of Mozambique (INGC) in Caia, only 24 hours after the activation of the Emergency Telecommunications Cluster (ETC) on February 15th.