Porto approves 100 thousand euros for hospital and provides 10 thousand euros for school
The Porto Chamber unanimously approved “post-catastrophe teams” and 100,000 euros to the Beira hospital, Mozambique, with the president of the municipality revealed that they will still follow 10,000 euros for the Portuguese School of that locality. “Once this proposal [on the dispatch of equipment and money for the reconstruction of the hospital] was formalized, we were contacted by the Secretary of State of the Communities [Portuguese] to see if the Porto Chamber could be associated with the Camões Institute to guarantee rapid intervention in the Portuguese School of Beira. We said that yes. We will support with 10,000 euros, “said the president of the municipality, Rui Moreira, in the public meeting of the executive. The mayor also mentioned a “meeting with Consul General Mozambique“, with whom he intends to articulate, “in the future“, a “more continuous support“, in the style of “patron“, on the part of Oporto with the twinned town of Beira, due to the passage of Cyclone Idai. “I think we should think in the future about finding an infrastructure, possibly a health centre or school, where we would be a patron. I speak in more continuous support to the twinned city, to ensure that we are not alone there when there is a problem,” he explained. Álvaro Almeida, from the PSD, noted that the city could continue to support the hospital, which now needs immediate reconstruction. Moreira did not dismiss the hypothesis, but considered that this is a question “for another occasion“. “At this moment the hospital needs immediate resources because it is not working,” he said. The Porto Chamber revealed on Wednesday the intention to send to Beira, in Mozambique, “post-disaster teams” and 100,000 euros for the “reconstruction of the hospital“, according to “needs” already identified by organizations non-governmental organizations. The municipality added that “it is also articulating with the Portugal Mozambique Association another type of support“, without specifying. The Chamber clarified that only “after the emergency period, which is still going on, will be quantified the needs” regarding the teams to send to Mozambique. “Only then, after a catastrophe, will the municipality of Porto be able to send a multidisciplinary team to the city of Beira, which will depend on the needs that are reported,” he noted. Cyclone Idai’s passage into Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi has caused at least 761 deaths, according to the most recent official balance sheets. In Mozambique, the number of confirmed dead has risen to 446, in Zimbabwe 259 people have been killed and in Malawi, 56 dead. The Minister of Land and Environment of Mozambique, Celso Correia, stressed that these numbers are still provisional since as the water level goes down, more bodies appear. The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced that it is preparing to address probable outbreaks of cholera and other infectious diseases as well as measles in large areas of Southeast Africa affected by Cyclone Idai, particularly in Mozambique. The cyclone affected at least 2.8 million people in the three African countries and the submerged area in Mozambique is about 1,300 square kilometres, according to estimates by international organizations. The city of Beira, in the coastal centre of Mozambique, was one of the worst hit by the cyclone on the night of March 14.
