The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has provided $100,000 in assistance to meet urgent humanitarian needs in Madagascar following Tropical Cyclone Emnati.

According to USAID, the funding will go to help its partner, Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), provide urgently needed humanitarian aid to vulnerable people in Madagascar.

Tropical Cyclone Emnati generated high winds, torrential rains, and flooding that resulted in widespread damage to housing, crops, and public infrastructure across several regions.

USAID, in a statement, said that Cyclone Emnati had so far affected nearly 170,000 Malagasy people.

Data from Connecting Business initiative shows that more than 23,000 houses have been destroyed as a result of the flood occasioned by the storm.

‘This is the fourth major storm to hit the island in recent weeks, further exacerbating humanitarian needs across Malagasy communities still recovering from the devastating impacts of Cyclone Batsirai in early February’, USAID said in the statement.

‘This funding will support USAID partner, Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), to provide urgently needed protection, shelter, water, sanitation, and hygiene assistance, and other relief items to support people displaced by the storm and flooding who are now residing in evacuation sites’.

Cyclone Emnati made landfall in Madagascar on 23 February, 2022, becoming the fourth major storm to hit the island nation in a month.

Cyclone Emnati struck on the southeastern side of the island, where Cyclone Batsirai hit on 05 February, killing at least 124 people, damaging the homes of 124,000 and displacing around 30,000.

The humanitarian response led by the Madagascar government, through its national disaster management office, has focused on providing emergency assistance to displaced families who sought refuge in temporary shelters, often lacking basic water and sanitation facilities.

Source: USAID

Photo source: WFP/Nejmeddine Halfaoui