Cyclone kills at least 16 in Madagascar; UNICEF responds with medicines, mosquito nets

"At least 16 people have been killed this week when a category four cyclone lashed Madagascar's eastern shores, rescue authorities said on Wednesday," Reuters reports, adding, "Some 65 people were injured and about 11,000 people left homeless after Cyclone Giovanna pummeled the country's eastern seaboard causing power shutdowns in parts of the island's port city of Tamatave, rescue officials said" (Iloniaina, 2/16). UNICEF "will start distributing medicines and mosquito nets [Thursday] to the parts of eastern Madagascar hardest hit" by the cyclone, the U.N. News Centre writes.

"Numerous hospitals, health care centers and schools have been flattened or badly damaged by the cyclone, as well as countless homes," the news service writes. Dominic Stolarow, UNICEF's emergency coordinator in Madagascar "told the U.N. News Centre ... that providing clean water and decent sanitation, re-establishing health care, building temporary classrooms and ensuring there is enough food for families in need are the top priorities for UNICEF and other humanitarian agencies" (2/15). Inter Press Service reports on how Mozambique, still recovering from a tropical storm and cyclone that hit the southern African country in January, is preparing for Cyclone Giovanna to hit on Friday (Myburgh/Zimela, 2/16).