Since the devastating news of Cyclone Idai hit the headlines, the Aquabox team has been working flat out to establish secure links with distribution agencies in Zimbabwe, Malawi and Mozambique.
Hundreds of vital aid items have been shipped are scheduled to arrive at their destination on 8th and 9th April, giving potentially life-saving equipment to those affected.
180 family filters have been sent to Zimbabwe and 300 to Mozambique.
Each family filter can deliver 1 litre of clean water per minute and 500,000 litres over its working life.
100 gold Aquaboxes and 5 community water filters have also been sent to Malawi, with a further 250 boxes planned to go out in July as additional follow-up support.
Similar to family filters, community filters remove biological contaminants commonly found in water, but deliver 6 litres per minute and 1 million in total, supporting larger groups.
In addition to a family filter, each Aquabox contains over 70 humanitarian items such as shelter materials, cooking utensils and personal hygiene items, specially selected and packed by volunteers, to meet the basic needs of recipients.
In total the filters and boxes have the potential to save over 7,000 lives.
The Cyclone made landfall on 14th March near the port city of Beira in Mozambique, with winds in excess of 100mph and heavy rainfall hitting the region.
According to Reuters, as of 3rd April, the death toll has risen to almost 850, with almost 3 million people affected across the region.
Aerial footage before and after the flooding in Mozambique shows the scale of the destruction – contains modified Copernicus Sentinel Data (2019)
Aquabox is a Derbyshire-based charity which originally started life as a project from Wirksworth Rotary Club.
Since 1992 they have distributed more than 110,000 humanitarian aid boxes to countries around the world suffering from natural or man-made disasters, helping hundreds of thousands of people in crisis.
To find out more about Aquabox’s work or to donate, visit their website or Facebook page.
