Short after one another, tropical cyclones Chalane and Eloise were expected to hit Madagascar and Mozambique in December 2020 and January 2021. How were the humanitarian practitioners able to use and translate the early warning information? Along the timelines of Chalane and Eloise, Francois Bonnardot (Météo-France) guided the audience through the different types of cyclone forecasts from seasonal to covering the coming month to a 3 to 10 day forecast and respective uncertainties. Yoann Cancan from the French Red Cross then shared how this information was used in Madagascar and Sergio Buque (Mozambique Red Cross) respectively for Mozambique. Chalane and Eloise are examples to learn from as they hit the same area, even though Chalane turned out to be a tropical depression, but the disaster risk practitioners had their warehouses pre-stocked and the communities were more aware. In a nutshell, this session showed the importance of dealing with the uncertainty of forecasts and the resulting importance of a close collaboration between meteorological offices and practitioners.
Hilla Wessel