In 14 March 2019, Cyclone Idai made landfall in Mozambique. It came in as people slept, at a wind speed of close to 200 kilometres per hour; by morning, 90 per cent of the major port city of Beira was destroyed. A video posted by an eyewitness showed a desolate scene, as bodies were recovered from a Catholic church to the sound of keening that is hard to listen to. ‘People didn’t stand a chance here,’ he mutters.
Idai was supercharged by warmed seas and heavy rains brought by climate change. It was a stark reminder of what is to come, or rather, what is already here, and the intense vulnerability of those least equipped to deal with it – on a continent that accounts for just four per cent of global emissions.
