Hundreds of cyclone victims in Mozambique will receive keys to their new homes on Wednesday, with the storm-resistant structures funded and built by the Tzu Chi Foundation.
The Taiwan-based Buddhist charity announced that the homes, valued at around US$33 million, would be delivered this week as part of a package of 2,067 homes being constructed in the Búzi district of Sofala, the Portuguese news agency Lusa reports. The central provinces of Sofala and Manica were the hardest hit by Cyclone Idai in 2019, which killed at least 602 people in the country.
“These houses symbolise another step toward the goal we set when we decided to establish the foundation in Mozambique: to support communities, especially the most vulnerable,” Dino Foi, president of the Tzu Chi Charity Foundation in Mozambique, said in a statement.
Active in Mozambique since 2012, the Tzu Chi Foundation mobilised its large local volunteer base to provide immediate relief in the aftermath of Cyclone Idai in March 2019. Within a month, Tzu Chi was already in talks with the government to address long-term recovery plans, including the rebuilding of houses. The pledge to finance construction of 3,000 homes for impacted households in the Nhamatanda and Búzi districts of Sofala came soon after the calamity, each house designed to withstand a Category 4 cyclone, one level above Idai.
[See more: Mozambique launches new plan to reduce malnutrition]
Tzu Chi handed off the first batch of 12 houses in late 2022, and so far, 1,611 houses have been delivered with a goal of 3,000 by April 2026. Homeowners receive essentials like beds and blankets along with the keys to their new house and enjoy a sustainable slow sand filtration system that provides the new community with safe drinking water.
Tzu Chi, with its focus on education, also committed to rebuilding 23 schools in the area, with the new Mafambisse Secondary School serving as its flagship project. Inaugurated in early 2024, the modern facility is designed to serve some 7,500 students with computer rooms, science labs, a library and a canteen. Like the houses, it is designed to resist Category 4 storms.
Idai, and Cyclone Kenneth in April 2019, are among the most powerful storms to ever hit Mozambique. The country is considered one of the most severely affected by climate change, regularly facing severe flooding and intense cyclones during the rainy season.
Buddhist nun Cheng Yen founded the Tzu Chi Foundation in 1966, the charity growing to operate in over 60 countries around the world.
