Dodma prepared for La Nina impact
The Department of Disaster Management Affairs (Dodma) says it has taken up a number of measures in preparedness of the La Nina outcome, especially floods.
Dodma principal mitigation officer Veronica Mhango said this in an interview on Wednesday on the sidelines of a two-day disaster risk management (DRM) and early warning information training for members of the Association of Environmental Journalists (AEJ) in Blantyre.
Chikwawa, during the January 2015 floods
Mhango said the department has set up emergency operation centres in Mzuzu, Lilongwe and Blantyre to coordinate disaster response better and it is also currently finalising the review of the National Contingency Plan which will help Dodma to respond as soon as disaster strikes.
Said Mhango: “We have also prepositioned stocks [food and non-food items] in our regional warehouses to enable us respond in good time, ideally within 48 hours. We have also prepositioned search and rescue teams in Nsanje, Chikwawa and Phalombe which are hot spots for flooding. Search and rescue teams are important when it comes to rescuing people during flooding.”
In his remarks, AEJ president Matthews Malata said the most critical thing about the training was to ensure that journalists, as communicators, are communicating the right information on time and are contributing towards efforts of making communities resilient to the effects of climate change.
The Department of Climate Change and Meteorological Services said this year the La Nina event is expected to influence weather conditions during the 2016/17 rainfall season over Southern Africa and Malawi.
Meanwhile, the 2016/17 rainfall forecast released by the department in October indicated a higher probability for above normal rainfall amounts which usually lead to floods.
