The consul-general of Mozambique in Macau, Rodrigues Muêbe, told Lusa today that he has already received more than 79,000 patacas (around €8,400) in a donation drive for flood victims.
On Wednesday, the diplomat received 45,000 patacas (€4,800), an amount raised among the 19,000 members of the Macau Civil Servants Association.
At the end of January, the Mozambican consulate-general in the Chinese region appealed for monetary and in-kind donations for flood victims in the African Portuguese-speaking country.
Since then, the diplomatic mission has also received 18,000 patacas (€1,900) from the Macau International Tourism Professionals Development Association, as well as 16,000 patacas (€1,700) in donations from anonymous donors, Muêbe said.
Monetary donations will be accepted until the end of May at the consulate’s accounts at Banco Nacional Ultramarino (BNU), which belongs to the Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD) group.
In-kind donations will be sent to a collection point in Canton, in the neighbouring Chinese province of Guangdong, from where it will be “easier” to transport them to Mozambique, Muêbe explained.
The consul added that he received an offer of help from the Macau Red Cross and is in contact with the humanitarian organisation to coordinate the transport of donations to Guangdong.
The Portuguese School of Macau also carried out a collection drive among students and teachers, with the items expected to be donated next week with the support of the Portuguese consulate-general, Muêbe said.
The consulate had launched an appeal for “humanitarian and solidarity support from public and private institutions, associations and people of goodwill in Macau and the Greater Bay Area.”
Read more about this topic: Consulate General of Mozambique in Macau calls for donations following devastating floods
The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area is a Beijing project to integrate the two territories of Hong Kong and Macau and nine cities in Guangdong province into a region of more than 86 million inhabitants with an economy exceeding one trillion euros in 2023.
The consulate requested monetary support or donations in the form of “clothing, hygiene products, medicines, non-perishable food, teaching materials, household utensils and agricultural production materials.”
The goal is to “help flood victims rebuild their lives” in a “situation arising from the effects of climate change,” the Mozambican diplomatic mission said.
Mozambique has already received 1.3 billion meticais (€17.5 million) and 6,700 tonnes of various products to support flood victims, the government in Maputo announced on Tuesday.
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The total number of deaths in the current rainy season in Mozambique has risen to 262, with nearly one thousand people affected since October, according to Tuesday’s update by the National Disaster Risk Management and Reduction Institute (INGD).
