US$768m needed for Cyclone Idai repairs

The country requires up to US$768 million to restore infrastructure destroyed by Cyclone Idai, which slammed mainly Chimanimani and Chipinge districts in Manicaland.

This is contained in the Zimbabwe Rapid Impact and Needs Assessment (RINA) report launched by Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Minister July Moyo in Harare yesterday.

The report was compiled by Government with the assistance of the World Bank.  According to the report, sectors such as transport, agriculture and housing were the worst affected.

“In April, 2019, the Government of Zimbabwe initiated a joint exercise to assess the losses and damages arising from the cyclone and to develop strategy for immediate recovery and longer term resilience building,” reads part of the executive summary of the report.

“The result was the RINA — an effort to assess and quantify cyclone recovery and resilience building across 10 sectors…

 

Queensland tsunami modelling shows how coastal communities will be impacted

Three hours — that’s the minimum amount of time Queenslanders would have to prepare in the event a destructive tsunami was headed towards Australia’s east coast.

Millions of people would need to be warned and evacuations along the coast completed before low lying communities were swamped.

By the time the first wave hit Sandy Cape on the northern tip of Fraser Island, it would only take another hour to reach the mainland, but the first wave might not be the biggest.

It’s one of the worst-case scenarios that has been modelled by Queensland’s Environment Department to make sure emergency services, local councils and other state agencies are equipped to respond…