Tackling chronic floods

Little Robert Mwakyera faced a slow painful death on a rainy night in Karonga North two weeks ago.

The four-year-old could not escape heavy rains that culminated to floods on April 3 in Mwakyonja Village, Traditional Authority (T/A) Kilupula.

His death has left a talking point in his village where group village head Mwenitete says the child from a poor background will be remembered forever in the shoreline district.

‘‘Robert’s death was inescapable,” he says. “He will forever be remembered as one in a lengthening list of Malawians dying due to floods and other effects of climate change.”

Floods ravaged communities between Lwezga and Songwe in Karonga from March 28 to April 3.

They killed four people-one in T/A Kilupula territory and three in Mwakaboko-and injured six.

District commissioner (DC) Richard Hara says the recent flooding was one of the worst tragedies ever witnessed in the district.

 ‘‘Imagine 878 houses being completely damaged, and almost 1075 hectares of rice, maize and cassava washed away?’’ he wonders.

Almost 5 520 households have been affected in T/As Mwakaboko, Kilupula, Kyungu, Mwirang’ombe and Wasambo.

Cause of problem

Most rivers in Karonga are shallow, heavily silted and with undefined course.

Due to heavy rains in the district, the blurred rivers change direction.

This results in flush floods in settlements and crops on the river banks.

As torrents battered the district, Lufiliya, Mpherere, Tchoro, Hara and Chimbiriri rivers burst their banks-reducing homes to rubble, swamping crop fields and sweeping away livestock and other invaluable assets.

Heath problem

Following the flooding, six camps have been established in the district.

But most of the camps do not have adequate toilets and safe water.

This puts lives of nearly 500 people at risk of waterborne diseases.

Almost all the camps are located in churches with only one pit latrine.

The situation has reignited fears of cholera outbreaks.

Around this time last year, massive floods catalysed widespread cholera attacks which killed 13 people out of nearly 250 hospitalised.

Chief relief and rehabilitation officer at the Department of Disaster Management Affairs (Dodma), Fyaupi Mwafongo, says that the United Nations for Children Fund (Unicef) is working hand in hand with Karonga District Health Office in readiness for a likely outbreak.

According to Mwafongo, Unicef has started supplying the displaced households with chlorine.

“The intervention aims to prevent cholera and other waterborne infections in the camps,” he says.

Preventive actions

Malawi Red Cross Society (MRCS) disaster manager Joseph Moyo advises that the diversion of rivers in Karonga could be as a result of massive deforestation taking place on their banks.

‘‘Most of the rivers in Karonga are bare. As a result, they have completely changed their direction. It is high time people stopped unnecessary cutting down of trees,’’ he  says.

However, project officer for Catholic Development Commission in Malawi (Cadecom) in Karonga Diocese, Elijah Banda, blames widespread deforestation on lack of alternative sources of energy among communities excluded from the national power grid.

The majority of these communities rely on charcoal and firewood.

Banda calls for promotion and use of energy-saving cook stoves which require fewer pieces of firewood.

But Vice-President Dr Saulos Chilima says government is in the right direction redressing environmental degradation in the country.

‘‘To minimise the effects of flooding, government has for the past years conducted tree-planting exercises across the country. I am glad to report that we have put aside resources to embark on programmes like the creation of dykes, damming of some rivers, but also retraining the river courses,” he said when he visited some of the survivors of the recent floods on Wednesday.

According to Chilima, the programmes will begin in the dry season.