Local people queue to receive relief supplies in Tica town, along the National Road No. 6 (EN6) in the Pungue River Basin in Mozambique, March 23, 2019. (Xinhua/Nie Zuguo)

BEIRA, Mozambique, March 27 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations (UN) said on Tuesday it is raising 281.7 million U.S. dollars to fund relief operations in Mozambique.

The funding will be used to support relief operations in the first three months after Cyclone Idai and the subsequent disasters hit central Mozambique, Sebastian Rhodes Stampa, the coordinator of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

"The requirements have been released, it has been sent out across the world and some governments are already considering funding for that appeal," he said.

The OCHA coordinator said at the emergency operation center in Beira, the coastal city close to the most-affected area by Idai, that the appeal is vital for the operations in support to the government of Mozambique.

"The people in need are 1.85 million in Sofala and Manica provinces, and the targeted people are 1.72 million," he said, adding that the data have come out through assessment done by the organization.

The coordinator they are still in short of nurses and technicians, but the government and UN are mobilizing resources to support the affected families, with the support from many other partners.

The UN experts have counted 500,000 hectares crop destroyed in provinces of Sofala, Manica and Tete, and 58,600 houses damaged.