GENEVA - The UN warned Tuesday that authorities and aid workers were racing against the clock to protect people as Madagascar braces for its fourth tropical storm in as many weeks.
Cyclone Emnati is expected to make landfall on southern Madagascar Tuesday evening -- just weeks after the island was lashed by Cyclone Batsirai on February 5, affecting some 270,000 people and claiming 120 lives.
At the same time, some 21,000 people still remain displaced from when tropical storm Ana struck in late January.
Another 5,000 were affected last week by tropical storm Dumako.
“We are in a race against time to protect those who dealt with the fury of the first three extreme events from the impact of Emnati,” Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN humanitarian agency OCHA, told reporters in Geneva.
The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) also said it was on an emergency footing.
“We are obviously praying for the best, but preparing for the worst,” WFP spokesman Tomson Phiri told reporters.
Cyclone Emnati is expected to make landfall on southern Madagascar Tuesday evening -- just weeks after the island was lashed by Cyclone Batsirai on February 5, affecting some 270,000 people and claiming 120 lives.
At the same time, some 21,000 people still remain displaced from when tropical storm Ana struck in late January.
Another 5,000 were affected last week by tropical storm Dumako.
“We are in a race against time to protect those who dealt with the fury of the first three extreme events from the impact of Emnati,” Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN humanitarian agency OCHA, told reporters in Geneva.
The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) also said it was on an emergency footing.
“We are obviously praying for the best, but preparing for the worst,” WFP spokesman Tomson Phiri told reporters.
