Johannesburg - The SOS Children’s Villages on Thursday appealed for donations to help support families and children affected by Cyclone Idai.
This comes weeks after the cyclone ripped through southern Africa and triggered devastating floods that have killed hundreds of people and displaced hundreds of thousands.
The current death toll across Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi now stands at 707, with many more missing in the three countries hit by the cyclone.
According to the United Nations, more than 1.7 million people in Mozambique, including an estimated 260,000 children, have been affected by the devastating tropical cyclone.
Many buildings in Beira, which was battered by the cyclone, have lost their roofing while houses have been completely blown away, the SOS Children’s Villages said in a statement.
The organisation added that children at SOS Children’s Villages Beira are safe but scared.
"They don’t have electricity and running water in the houses. A majority of the staff members were also affected by this – some of them lost their houses and their own families are affected.
"There is a need for psychological support. Isolated, with no electricity or safe drinking water, SOS Children’s Villages Beira is counting on members of the public for their compassion in assisting with the provision of food, water and sanitation, as well as health care and psychological counselling to children and families in crisis," SOS Children’s Villages explained.
The organisation added that Idai also negatively impacted the Family Strengthening Programme in the area, affecting children and vulnerable families who relied on it and leaving them traumatised and living in the hope that people who can, will send help.
SOS Children's Villages also expressed great concern over the fate of children left orphaned by the cyclone and those separated from their parents in the chaos.
"For these children, the road to recovery will be long; they will need to heal from the deep trauma they have just experienced," the organisation said.
SOS Children’s Villages has therefore appealed to South Africans to please help to provide a lifeline to the children and families affected by making a donation or sponsoring a child.
The SOS Children’s Villages is an independent, non-governmental organisation (NGO) that advocates for the rights of marginalised children.
Established in South Africa in 1984, SOS Childrens Villages South Africa has eight Children’s Villages and three Social Centres across eight provinces.
For more information, visit: https://www.sossouthafrica.org.za/