The Bermuda Red Cross has taken in almost $10,500 in donations for disaster relief in Africa, where Cyclone Idai last month killed at least 446 people in Mozambique.

But aid is still needed a month after the storm devastated the region, affecting 1.85 million others, according to the United Nations.

A statement from the Bermuda Red Cross said news that the first cases of cholera have been confirmed in Mozambique has accelerated Red Cross and Red Crescent disease prevention activities in the vulnerable communities hit by Idai, the deadliest storm in generations to strike the region.

Jamie LeSueur, head of operations with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Beira, Mozambique said: “We will all have to move extremely fast to stop these isolated cases from becoming another major disaster within the ongoing crisis of Cyclone Idai.

“The Mozambique Red Cross and IFRC have been anticipating the danger of waterborne disease from the outset of this tragedy, and we are already very well equipped to deal with it.

“We have an Emergency Response Unit ready to provide clean water for up to 15,000 people a day, and another emergency mass sanitation unit ready to support 20,000 people a day.

“Mozambique Red Cross volunteers, who are well respected within the communities, will also be providing supplies of household water treatment, which is one of the most effective ways to prevent cholera,”

Other measures include the deployment of a Red Cross Emergency Hospital, which is on route to Beira and will arrive today.

As well as being fully equipped to treat cases of cholera, the hospital can provide medical services, maternal and newborn care and emergency surgery, as well as inpatient and outpatient care for at least 150,000 people.

The Mozambique Red Cross has volunteers specially trained in cholera management who have responded to previous outbreaks. Equipment for creating oral rehydration points in affected communities is being deployed in the coming days.

On March 25, IFRC tripled its Emergency Appeal from an initial 10 million to 31 million Swiss francs, to support a huge escalation in relief by the Red Cross and Red Crescent.

The funds will enable IFRC to support the Mozambique Red Cross to provide 200,000 people with emergency assistance water, sanitation and hygiene; shelter, health, livelihoods and protection services over the next 24 months.

Donations to the Bermuda Red Cross will be sent to British Red Cross to assist with relief efforts in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi.

The appeal account is still open if people wish to make an online donation.

• The account has been set up at Butterfield Bank account 20 006 060 663859 200. Donors can also contribute through the website www.bermudaredcross.com, or by calling the office on 236-8253, Monday through Friday, between 8.30am and 4pm with card details. In addition, donors can mail or stop in at the charity’s offices on 9 Berry Hill Road, Paget