Effects of climate change: Guludo on Ibo Island in Mozambique after Cyclone Idai struck in 2019. The country subsequently took out a $118 million loan from the IMF. (Zinyange Auntony/AFP)
After the 2019 Cyclone Idai hit countries along the Indian Ocean and inland, the need to determine the structure of calculating equitable values for losses and damages came firmly into sight. These include cultural, traditional, familial, historic, sentimental, psychological, emotional, mental, physical that fall outside of the economic frame and are unquantifiable as loss-and-damage.
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change defines non-economic losses as those not commonly traded in markets. They include overlapping dimensions of harm from climate change affecting individuals, society and the environment, such as the loss of life, health or mobility, the loss of territory, cultural heritage, local knowledge, societal or cultural identity, and biodiversity or ecosystem services.
Five years after Cyclone Idai, which left almost 350 dead, more than 250 missing, 60,000 displaced and estimates of 129,600 children affected, DanChurchAid led an anthropological fact-finding media mission to Kopa — the epicentre of the disaster — to advocate for climate financing. That same week in September this year, Storm Boris hit Europe, leaving a trail of destruction from Romania to Poland in what has been described as the worst flooding in 20 years, emphasising the regional effect of such catastrophic climate events.
Zimbabwe’s physical and economic losses from Cyclone Idai were calculated by the World Bank at $542,616 based on 865km of road, 20,354m of bridges, 294 health facilities, 971 schools and 18,000 houses damaged and destroyed. Yet the Civil Protection Unit responsible for Disaster Response likened the cumulative losses to $1 trillion, equating it to the ravages of an overnight war. The gap between the two figures is so alarming it cannot be ignored.
The DanChurchAid led mission sought to determine these non-quantifiable costs. One victim, Morgan Ngorora explained how the decision to go to Mutare on the morning of 15 March 2019 saved his life but claimed his house, wife and three children. They were swept away by flood waters rising more than 12 metres, wiping away an entire settlement of about 300 houses in Kopa, together with most of its inhabitants in their sleep.
A local village head spoke of a similar flood in Chimanimani in 1942, but 80 years later the world, the country, and indeed Chimanimani were never ready for such a catastrophe.
Herim Kazembe, an English teacher at Ndima Secondary School, thought he was dead when he was swept along by the first wave of flash floods for several kilometres in seconds, separating him from his family as they tried to get to higher ground. He had the eventual horror of losing his wife with their baby strapped on her back in the second wave, in front of his two children.
In the week of DanChurchAid’s visit, the missing were officially declared dead, in accordance with the law. Families received death certificates of their family members, enabling them to claim their entitled benefits. But neither Ngorora nor Kazembe have experienced closure over their loss.
Joseph Maphosa, a civil servant and musician, awoke to find his feet in water and his bed raised to the roof by flood waters. He spent three days cold and wet in a tree waiting for help. Maphosa narrated his two years of crippling nightmares of running into walls while trying to escape the rising water. In 2020, he released a music video about Cyclone Idai in which he names the deceased and missing persons — friends and neighbours — people he used to know. The government is working on plans to establish commemorative sites to help bring closure to those left behind.
The Civil Protection Unit talked about finding bodies at the confluence of the three major rivers in the area, on their way to the Indian Ocean. They described how bodies were eaten by crocodiles. They found bodies in Mozambique months later, some burnt beyond recognition on farms; incomplete skeletons that were determined to belong to the same person with the help of pathologists. It was impossible to bring all the bodies home. No one can quantify the trauma, but in interviews members of the unit said that they too needed counselling.
On the other side of the destruction the unit members talked of the hours, the manpower and the risks that had to be overcome to reach affected sites. Big companies with assumed competencies and capacity to help, shied away, leaving the military, the Chinese and a few local companies to rescue the hungry, traumatised and devastated survivors.
The destruction of Cyclone Idai, whose strength matched a category 3 hurricane, spanned three provinces and nine districts, affecting an estimated 44% of Zimbabwe, leaving 71 learners orphaned. Many children lost three to five years of schooling because of the disaster. For those who did return to school, the physical wounds and emotional scars have left an indelible mark on their lives.
Nineteen-year-old Travail Ngorima had an injury that led to the toes on his left foot being amputated. Ngorima told of how the pain prevented him from sitting for his final examinations in 2023. Having now healed, he was only just able to secure a place to write his exams in 2024 because of limited finances. Against hope, a budding keyboard player, Ngorima dreams of one day sharing his musical gift with the world.
Oppah Magodo, 37, had never spoken about her tragedy in five years. She recalled finding her husband’s abandoned car and in it his cell phone with a video of his last moments before he was swept away by flood waters. He left her to run their business and raise their three children. She talked of not sleeping, thinking instead of how to pay school fees and make ends meet. Others simply refused to speak to the media team, expressing frustration at reliving their personal nightmares on the promise of assistance that never came.
The survivors told of how a sense of humanity and compassion washed over the affected community in the immediate aftermath. Shopkeepers gave their stock to keep the grief-stricken survivors alive. One grieving mother, Mrs Bhuka, recalled how a local white man gave coffins for free at St John’s Roman Catholic Church in Ngangu, which became a safehouse while doubling as a morgue. It served as the clinic and as a community centre. Unknown to the survivors, at the time no one could come to rescue them. Ten bridges and 95% of the road network were either destroyed or damaged. Electricity and telephone lines were down. Not even helicopters could make their way through because of poor visibility.
Mrs Bhuka recounted the horror of being pinned by flood waters between a wardrobe and bed, unable to help her three children. Watching her youngest child being swept away and not being able to get to her. The devastating search for her children hours later. The relief of finding her two youngest children after searching tirelessly in the mud and debris, among dead bodies and among the living. And the eventual heartbreak of finding her eldest daughter’s body. Her story is like that of many neighbours and friends, who now live in the new settlement called Runyararo (which means peace).
The trauma of living in temporary shelters for two years or more and having nothing, no clothes, no toothbrush, was swiftly compounded by Covid-19.
Runyararo was deemed geologically safe by the Zimbabwe National Geospatial and Space Agency after rejecting several sites as unsafe following geophysical assessments. It houses a state-of-the-art health facility, built with the support of the first lady, Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa, a school and modern homes, giving dignity back to survivors. After the completion of the first 159 houses, many households were relocated there. The government and its partners stepped up to supply residents with solar-driven boreholes while looking for the $25 million to bring water to the new settlement.
Five years later, the Disaster Risk Assessment Plans have been updated, the displaced relocated and death certificates issued. But how will these personal horrors and losses factor into climate financing? Given the rate at which climate events have occurred in 2024, all eyes are on COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, in November to determine the way forward.
Patience Ukama heads communications for DanChurchAid Zimbabwe, the lead partner of the Utariri integrated biodiversity, climate change and livelihoods programme across the Zambezi Valley. She was the editor for the International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, and was Head of Communications for the African Union Foundation.