Africa-Press – Angola. More than 60 million people have died on the continent due to severe weather disasters, African Union Commissioner Josefa Correia Sacko revealed in Maputo, the Mozambican capital.
The diplomat, who was speaking at the ceremony that marked the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction, which was attended by the Head of State of Mozambique, Filipe Nyusi, said that the African continent “is the most vulnerable to disaster risks, so it has recorded, since 2015, more than 700 disaster events, which have affected more than 80 million people”.
“The disaster events I just highlighted could have been substantially reduced or avoided if early warning systems (EWS) were in place,” he stressed.
“We cannot stop natural disasters”, he continued, but we can arm ourselves with knowledge, as there are many fatalities if we were prepared to face these disasters”.
“As climate-related disasters are on the rise, there is a need to develop multi-hazard early warning systems to respond to the increasing frequency and magnitude of climate hazards,” he said, adding that given the severity of climate disasters , the AU Commission developed the institutional framework for early warning and rapid action on multiple hazards and its Program of Implementation”.
The Angolan ambassador recalled that Cyclone Idai, the biggest and most violent to hit Mozambique, specifically in Sofala province, caused more than one billion fatalities. people out of poverty and the protection of development, including the achievement of the objectives set out in the AU Agenda 2063:”
In the horn of Africa, he said, the ongoing drought was the worst in 40 years and affected more than 50 million people.
“To translate the framework into concrete actions, the African Union Commission developed the Multiple Hazards Early Warning and Action System in Africa (AMHEWAS), said the Angolan ambassador Josefa Jacko.
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