MAPUTO, June 1 (Xinhua) -- The donors' conference held in Beira in central Mozambique have raised 1.2 billion U.S. dollars for post-cyclones reconstruction, authorities said at the end of the conference on Saturday.
"An amount equivalent to 1.2 billion U.S. dollars has been pledged. Assistance will be targeted at all affected groups of people, with particular focus on the most vulnerable group: Women, children, the disabled and the aged," said Francisco Pereira, Executive Director of the Post-cyclones Reconstruction Office.
This amount comprises only one third of the 3.2 billion dollars, a figure indicated in the Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) carried out by the government, with the support from the United Nations, European Union, World Bank, and the African Development Bank.
President of Mozambique, Filipe Nyusi, recognized in his speech at the conference on Saturday people's joint efforts to create a united force to minimize the suffering of those affected by cyclone Idai and Kenneth.
"We have shown the world that we can overcome any challenge, when we work for one cause," said the president.
In Nyusi's speech, he said that the government acted rapidly to normalize people's life and the private sector activities, and to make sure that the external aid could easily reach the affected areas.
According to the president, the government introduced 50 percent drop in prices of energy applied for the sector of industry and trade, while in the agriculture sector it distributed seeds with short production cycle to alleviate food shortage in the near future.
The president said the reconstruction will take long, and the conference was a must to mobilize all resources home and abroad for the process, and that there are other supports from cooperation partners even before the conference was held.
Unprecedented in the country's history, the two cyclones and the subsequent disasters killed more than 600 people and affected nearly 1.85 million, leaving social and economic infrastructures destroyed.
