Help Dion Agius Assist With Hurricane Relief In Mozambique

Tofo is a paradise. Located on in the southern coastline of Mozambique, it’s a place where the beaches are as wide as they are pristine, cerulean lines break nonstop, and the pleasant early-morning feeling of a summer’s day is present year round.

But, on the evening of February 15, this picture of nirvana was disrupted when Tropical Storm Dineo hit. By the time Dineo hit landfall in the Inhambane Province, where Tofo is located, it had reached the strength of a Category 1 hurricane. The ensuing destruction was astronomical, and many of the locals who live mostly in tiny wooden huts didn’t stand a chance against the 180km winds. Most, if not all, were destroyed.

Dion Agius happened to be in Tofo when Dineo struck, and made a video to both chronicle his experience and ask for help fixing the affected region. We hopped on the phone with him once he was back safe and sound at his home in Tasmania to get a further perspective, and see what we can do to lend a hand.

“I was there doing a job for Panasonic. They’re launching a new camera so we were filming part of the campaign in Tofo. It got to the last two days of the trip, and we heard that there was a cyclone coming, but we didn’t really know what the extent of it was going to be. The thing just hit us so hard and fast. I’ve never been in a cyclone before, and it was insane. In the video you can see more, but basically we were sitting in our living room shitting ourselves while the roof of our house was getting torn off. Once everything settled it was hard to portray the damage of what had actually happened, it was that bad.

“At first, I wasn’t really sure what I could do to help. But I knew I had to do something. There had to be someway I could alleviate the damage. I figured I could just stay and film something, but I only had my iPod. So I ended up running around the town, filming as much as I could with that. Then, thankfully, Panasonic ended up leaving me a camera so I could go and shoot some interviews with the locals. I stayed as long as I could to shoot and rushed home to get everything edited because they need relief and money as soon as possible. No one has roofs, their houses are gone, and they don’t have money to fix anything. It’s gnarly.

“In an age of social media, instant video and all stuff, it’s nice to see that we can use it for good. Especially when you have a bit of a following. This event was never even touched by the media in Australia and my friends hadn’t seen a single thing or heard of it until I told them. It’s such an amazing community down there and such a good surf zone. The people are incredible, so if there’s anything I can do to give back to that community, I want to make sure I can help out as much as I can.”

If you feel inclined to lend Dion a hand with the relief fund, head over to his gofundme  He’s raised about $3k as of now, but he’s looking to put up $20k in total, and needs all the help he can get.