INTERNATIONAL aid has started trickling into the east African countries of Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi to ease the humanitarian crisis created by floodwaters from Cyclone Idai.

Relief efforts that were initially stifled by airport closures slowly gained steam Tuesday, and foreign governments began pledging aid to help the region recover from the worst flooding in decades.

The European Union released 3.5 million euros (US$3.9 million) in emergency aid, and the United Kingdom pledged up to 6 million pounds (US$7.9 million). Neighboring Tanzania’s military airlifted 238 tons of food and medicine.

Matthew Pickard of the humanitarian organization CARE said the response to Idai has been similar to prior natural disasters. Local authorities and international non-governmental organizations worked their way to the area in the first days, with additional aid destined to arrive soon after. The slow-moving catastrophe of the flooding and the inability to access some of the hardest-hit areas has limited the ability of some to see the scale of the cyclone. (SD-Agencies)