The compounding impacts of Cyclone Idai and their implications for urban inequality

Climate-related disaster impacts within secondary cities of the Global South can severely constrain household access to basic resources and services in those cities. The loss of consistent household access to these services and resources can subsequently increase household vulnerability to further climate disaster impacts. There is limited research exploring the relationships between the observed loss of consistent access to resources and services and how those losses can compound household vulnerability to disaster impacts. In March 2019, Cyclone Idai made landfall in Beira, Mozambique, and resulted in one of the deadliest weather-related disasters in Southern Africa. This investigation compared the consistency of access to resources and services pre- and post-Cyclone Idai, assessed the extent to which the consistency of access to these resources and services was correlated, and investigated the implications of this compounded loss for rising inequality in the city. The findings indicate that respondent households lost consistent access to several resources and services after Cyclone Idai, the loss of consistent access to those resources and services was correlated, and the compounded nature of that lost contributed to rising inequality in the city. These findings suggest that the households experienced compounded (co-occurring) losses in the consistency of their access to each of the identified resources and services, potentially predisposing the sampled households to further vulnerability, and rising inequality, in the wake of Cyclone Idai. The paper concludes by identifying ways in which compounding losses can be prevented, and household resiliency enhanced, through both pre-disaster preparedness and post-disaster response. •Households in Beira experienced rising inequality in access to basic services and resources following Cyclone Idai•Cyclone Idai impacts on household access to basic services and resources co-occurred, indicating compounding vulnerability•Community-based adaptive measures, including managed resettlement, may stem the compounded impacts of climate disasters