The mozambique minister of the environment to the DN: the World must understand, once and for all

It is not possible to imagine that Luis Manuel's home was a solid cementhus with two rooms and a kitchen a few weeks ago. Only the size of a headboard was a witness of the retired hotellportierens relatively good standard of living before the cyclone Idai pulled in from the sea.

In the rubble around a hastily drawn up shed down the daughter of Hope Esperanca among his father's possessions. Kitchenware, a cracked radio, the clothes and the mangled furniture is in a mess.

Image 1 of 2 Hope Esperanca outside his father's destroyed home. Photo: Erik Esbjörnsson Slide 2 of 2 Hope Esperanca, 7, who shares a name with her aunt. Photo: Erik Esbjörnsson Slideshow

with a broken umbrella to protect her back against the cold winds that pull in between the plates.

" the House collapsed when I was inside it. I got cementblocken across the back and can't touch me, " he says.

The damage in the city of Beira was created mainly by the cyclone Idais winds that reached strengths of 170 km / h when it hit the city. Outside of Beira, it was the rain that caused the most havoc when precipitation reached up to 600 millimeters – the same amount that falls over Stockholm for a whole year.

in the strength or scale, but met with , the country's fourth largest city with full force. In addition, the rain continued pouring down over a mountainous area in the west, and these bodies of water found their way down to the coast via the rivers – to the already affected area on the coast. It is for these reasons Idai been ranked as the worst cyklonkatastrofen that so far hit the southern hemisphere.

After the Idai com Kenneth in the weekend hit the northern parts of Mozambique. How great the damage will be after this storm is still too early to say but the death toll will most likely not be as high as during the Idai, then, around 600 people lost their lives.

Read more: death toll rises in Mozambique after hurricane Kenneth

there is Nothing to suggest that the storms in the south Indian ocean at the present time is stronger or more than in the past, but if global warming creates more extreme weather conditions is Idai a warning of what may wait in the future. A new cycle of the recurring väderfenomenet El Niño is under construction which can produce large precipitation during the coming years.

"We don't know when the next disaster strikes, or how the El Niño rains will affect us," says the country's environment minister Celso Correia in an interview with DN.

" We have worked to build up the resilience of the population and early warning has saved many lives. But the actual size, is a disaster of Idais magnitude, was something that nobody could foresee, " he says.

at 1,300 dollars a year, approximately sek 1,000 per person per month, is Mozambique one of the ten poorest countries in the world. The country has a coastline of 250 kilometres, the fourth longest in Africa. The country lies in a belt of ostvindar which annually generates between six and seven cyclones.

Two out of every three mozambicans live in rural areas and the country is ranked as one of the countries in the world that can happen to the most ill out in the face of future climate change.

" It is important to move from talk to action. Because of our geographical position, with the coast and our river systems, we must invest in infrastructure and build resilience, " says Correia when the DN hit him, worn out after the past weeks of work, at the airport in Beira.

”We have in recent years appealed to the international community for help,” says Celso Correia, minister for the environment in Mozambique. Photo: Erik Esbjörnsson

We have in recent years appealed to the international community for help, and although we scored a lot through the world Bank and other actors, we are talking about at least three billion dollars (27 billion) is needed in the relatively short term.

Michel Matera , a specialist on urban risk management, that the country ought to budget for around a billion dollars in annual losses due to weather-related accidents, and that Mozambique is not in the vicinity of this at the moment.

– There is a warning system for the residents but the local communities need to be better organised. Public procurement must be strengthened so that you can quickly get resources on scene when something happens. In addition, the need to infrastructure improvements and construction standards to be raised, " says Matera on the phone to the DN, and continues:

Around 5,000 teacher must, for example, is being renovated to cope with this type of weather.

projects in the Beira saved likely to be the city from even worse havoc. In the last year inaugurated a new canal system that runs through the low-lying areas in the city. It has cost around half a billion dollars to build.

One of the channels goes straight outside the Luis Manuel's home. In matbristens Beira, there are many who now supplement the rations by fishing with mosquito nets in the channel.

On the other side of this giant cementdike tells brödförsäljaren Raul Gideon that there previously was only a muddy, on that plagued by salamanders and snakes.

Raul Gideon and Ruben Alves in a brödstånd in the centre of Beira. Photo: Erik Esbjörnsson

have heard of the phenomenon of global warming and its possible impact on the extremvädret. Esperanca wondering ”what to get” if the storms become more while Gideon is more blunt in his response:

– In this case, we are sitting in the shit.

Just now trying to world bank experts estimate the immediate costs of Idais rampage, a task which is simplified by the recent years of greatly improved satellitteknologi.

– We will have a preliminary assessment soon, but we already know that it is worse than the cyclone in 2000, which caused damage of 500 million dollars, " said Michel Matera.

towards the border with Zimbabwe, between the cities of Tica and Nhamatanda, the need of the stranded travelers with no figure to understand cyklonens effects. Water want to remove a section of 100 metres of the road and the passengers are now forced to trudge through the bush with the gasket on the head to reach the other side where buses are waiting to take them on.

Image 1 of 3 the Need for infrastructure in Mozambique is large and therefore, the costs to be kept down. Photo: Erik Esbjörnsson Slide 2 of 3 , Between the towns of Tica and Nhamatanda was washed 100 yards of a brand-new road off of the water. Photo: Erik Esbjörnsson Slide 3 of 3 Photo: Erik Esbjörnsson Slideshow

"It was a fejkväg that the chinese built," says Rafael Ernesto and shakes his head.

the Road opened so late two years ago and the asphalt is still in excellent condition. But in order to save money, it was not on the concrete pillars but on a sandbank which became an unfortunate barrier for the water when it gushed forth, and eventually broke through.

illustrates a major dilemma in the Mozambique development. The need for infrastructure is huge and therefore, the costs to be kept down. But cheaper houses, roads and bridges become more vulnerable and cyklonerna can capture the country in constant renovations, when the money instead should be put on further infrastruktursutbyggnad.

Image 1 of 2 Photo: Erik Esbjörnsson Slide 2 of 2 Photo: Erik Esbjörnsson Slideshow

nor does Ernesto have heard about climate change in the long term can threaten Mozambique's opportunities for development.

if global warming is limited in one of the most vulnerable countries are no surprises environment minister, Celso Correia.

– If the countries in the West, who have the technology and the scientists, still traveling questions about it here. Then just imagine how it is for people who do not have any information. We need to link the world together on this and have a global response against global warming, " he says.

Read more: Storm Kenneth raze villages to the ground