UN aid teams scramble to reach 'most remote places' cut off by Cyclone Kenneth in Mozambique.

GENEVA -- With heavy rains expected to continue in the coming days across northern Mozambique, access to the most remote areas affected by Cyclone Kenneth remains difficult, the UN warned today.

Humanitarian affairs coordination office, OCHA, reported that heavy rains had paused in the morning around the coastal city of Pemba, with aid workers going flat out to prepare relief flights - including medical supplies - to the island of Matemo, one of the worst-hit by the cyclone. "Emergency staff will also do further damage and needs assessments while they can, as more rain is expected in the coming days, turning the response into a start-stop operation", said OCHA Spokesperson, Jens Laerke, briefing reporters in Geneva.

The Government of Mozambique is reporting that at least 38 people died during the second massive cyclone to hit southern Africa in six weeks, following on from the devastating impact of Cyclone Idai. Kenneth partially or fully destroyed nearly 35,000 houses, close to 200 classrooms; and at least 14 health facilities have been hit, OCHA reported.

Around 21,000 people are now sheltering in accommodation centres, after their villages were wiped out, said Mr. Laerke, adding that some staff who had made an aerial survey, said that "some villages looked like they had been bulldozed." For the initial response, $10 million has been released for Mozambique by the head of OCHA, together with $3 million for the hard-hit Comoros Islands.

Spokesperson for the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), Charlie Yaxley, said that "access to the most remote places remains difficult", with reports that some remain "completely isolated and in need of rescue". Although the northern areas hit by Kenneth are less populated than other parts of the country, the...