Mozambique storms: How to cyclone-proof your life - BBC News

Mozambicans learn to build stronger houses as climate change brings bigger and deadlier storms.

2 days agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingRelated TopicsCyclone IdaiBy Nomsa MasekoBBC News, BeiraMozambican builder José Joaquim is determined to never again put his family through the terror of living through a cyclone in a flimsy house.

When Cyclone Idai crashed on to Mozambique's coastline five years ago, he was living with his wife and new-born baby in a shelter with corrugated iron roofing in the city of Beira.

"When the winds intensified, we were inside. Because of the noise we couldn't be sure what was happening outside. But then suddenly one of the metal roof sheets blew away," Mr Joaquim told the BBC.

"And then our door cracked in half because of the wind. We realised that we had to get out of there."

They struggled through winds that kept knocking them down until they reached an evacuation centre at a local school, where for safety everyone packed into the one room that had a concrete roof until the gales subsided.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-67937595?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA

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