African Entrepreneurship Record

March 14, 1891, Bela Port.

After the new year, Bela Port, the number one project in the Mozambique region, has begun to take shape.

In history, Bela Port was initially built in 1891, and East Africa’s construction of Bela Port began just six months earlier. In its previous life, Bela Port was one of the main transshipment ports for Zimbabwe, Congo (Gold), Malawi, and Zambia, and the second largest port in Mozambique nationwide, showcasing the advantages of Bela Port.

However, the current situation in Bela is not good. The entire area is experiencing fierce winds, accompanied by heavy rain, challenging this nascent city.

Due to time constraints, many buildings in Bela City are temporary structures, mostly made of wood and earth. Under such extreme weather conditions, the local buildings have suffered significant damage.

”This damn weather, never encountered a hurricane of this magnitude before in Dar es Salaam,” the first mayor of Bela City, Borland, said loudly.

Mozambique is a country frequently hit by typhoons, something East Africa was previously unaware of, or had little experience with, as typhoons usually occur near the equator and then develop into hurricanes as they move toward the polar regions, which is what Mayor Borland of Bela City referred to as a hurricane.

The names for typhoons mainly include tropical cyclones and hurricanes. In the southeastern part of the Far East Empire, they are called typhoons, while in the southeastern United States, they are referred to as hurricanes.

Most parts of eastern East Africa are affected by typhoons, but the typhoons in the Indian Ocean area are not very powerful, and Dar es Salaam City, being very close to the equator, is generally unaffected.

Bela Port, however, is different. Bela’s latitude is near thirty degrees south latitude (29 degrees), which happens to be an area where typhoon power is relatively strong.

Of course, the power of East African typhoons is much weaker compared to those in America and the Far East, especially since the impact on East Africa is not as significant as imagined.

In the southeast part of East Africa, which is most susceptible to typhoons, there is the fourth largest island in the world—the Madagascar Island to the east, which can partially block some typhoons from reaching East Africa.

However, because the Madagascar Strait is too wide, some stronger typhoons usually strengthen over the sea after passing through the Madagascar Strait. This is the current situation affecting Bela.

”How are the ships in the port affected now?” Mayor Borland of Bela City asked.

”Mr. Mayor, the overall condition of the port area is good, except that two ships collided due to slow entry into the port and were severely damaged. We are unable to address it until the typhoon weakens,” a subordinate reported.

”Phew, that’s good to hear; it doesn’t seem too bad...”

Before he could ease his mind, a subordinate said, ”Mr. Mayor, although the port area is fine, the situation in the city might be worse.”

Borland hurriedly asked, ”What’s the situation now?”

”Many houses and work sheds were destroyed by the typhoon, and there may have been casualties. Trees in the city have been broken in half. Under these circumstances, apart from the city government, most buildings are likely not in good condition.”

Bela is located north of the mouth of the Pongwe River, with land protruding to the northeast, in the opposite direction to the approaching typhoon, which is why the port area was not significantly affected. However, the city was hit hard, and it’s impossible to send people out to organize rescues at this time, so the city government and other government agencies can only look on helplessly.

In fact, the city government was unaffected because the government buildings were all masonry structures; after all, it’s a tradition in East Africa to prioritize the construction of government buildings and infrastructure whenever a new area is developed.

”Once the typhoon stops, immediately organize personnel to rescue the affected people in the city and compile damage statistics,” Borland instructed.

In reality, the population of Bela was only just over 7,000, so the number of affected people couldn’t be too high. However, the construction of the preceding half a year might not withstand the test, increasing the difficulty of building in Bela, especially with the upcoming construction of the Habei Railway.

A half-hour later, the wind and rain finally ceased, and personnel from the city government and government offices began to mobilize, although they clearly lacked a proper understanding of typhoons.

Less than an hour later, the typhoon struck again, catching everyone off guard, as people had not yet been settled, and a new storm approached.

This raised the number of casualties in Bela City due to the typhoon from four to twelve, while the experienced old sailors in the port area ensured it remained largely unaffected.

In the dockside building next to the John Del, Captain John Del explained to everyone, ”A typhoon is essentially a big circle, but the center of this circle is hollow, and we call it the eye of the typhoon. In the area of the eye, the weather is usually calm, but once the eye passes, the typhoon continues.”

He demonstrated with a bowl, ”The bowl’s rim is where the real power of the typhoon lies, while the center is empty for special reasons. However, the typhoon rotates, so it doesn’t end until the other side of the bowl’s rim passes.”

”I’ve experienced typhoons in Southeast Asia before, which were far more terrifying than Bela’s. When at sea, one always encounters unpredictable conditions, so knowing more can help preserve life...”

Another vivid lesson, but unfortunately, Bela’s initial encounter with such a situation and lack of experience led to unnecessary secondary losses, which also served as a lesson for the East African government.

After the disaster, the number of casualties and missing persons rose to forty-three, including three government officials on rescue missions, four police officers, over two hundred buildings destroyed, and economic losses reaching over thirteen thousand Rhine Shields.

Fortunately, Bela City had only been under construction for a short time, and the city’s scale was small; otherwise, the losses would have been greater. This was also the first time in recent years that the East African government had encountered such a powerful typhoon, as previously only the Portuguese government had experienced such a ”blessing.”

The disaster in Bela City also, to some extent, influenced the commencement of construction work on the Habei Railway, indicating that house renovations in Bela City would require significant effort.

Of course, typhoons don’t necessarily bring only bad effects; this time the typhoon moved deep into the East African inland, reaching the Matabele Plateau and bringing ample rainfall, which aided agricultural development in Matabele Province.

Meanwhile, the Mozambique region, due to its low level of development, did not benefit from these advantages. Instead, the excessive rainfall brought some challenges to the railway line survey work.

In April, the construction work for the Habei Railway could finally commence, and the impact of the typhoon became a focal point for the East African government for the first time.

However, for such a ”novel phenomenon” as typhoons, the government maintained a stable attitude because, compared to typhoons, other natural disasters like droughts and floods rank much higher on East Africa’s priority list.

In East Africa, a country with vast territories, there is always a place not experiencing favorable weather, so people have become accustomed to it.

However, aid to Bela City was not delayed because the Habei Railway is an important national project emphasized by the East African government, including the construction of Bela Port, which was one of the main port construction projects for East Africa in 1891. Therefore, even without the disaster, East Africa would still increase its investment in the area.

The locational advantages of Bela City promise its development potential, making it one of the key areas for port city development in East Africa’s future, not to be halted by a ”small” natural disaster.