Cyclone Freddy survivors face uncertain relocation

Last year, a relentless rainstorm left tears dripping across southern Malawi, where severe floods and landslides claimed 679 lives, with another 530 still missing.

The World Meteorological Organisation estimates that the longest-spanning cyclone dumped a six-month amount of rainfall in six days.

The disaster was widely felt in the downslopes of Soche Hill in Blantyre, where landslides killed more than 100 people.

Its devastating effects persist in the path of destruction where landslides ripped homes, roads and other vital assets.

A year on, experts call for bold action to reduce the regularity and severity of disasters worsened by climate change.

Civil Society Network on Climate Change national coordinator Julius Ngoma told The Nation that the government must implement laws and policies against settling in danger zones.

Willie Laodani, a resident of Chilobwe slopes in Soche Hill, says houses built down slopes suffered the worst battering.

“Authorities need to relocate survivors to safer places. We were informed about the possible relocation shortly after the cyclone, but nothing has happened,” he says.

In 2014, the Blantyre Magistrate’s Court gave illegal settlers six months to vacate Soche Hill within six months.

However, 61 concerned residents obtained another court order restraining the council from demolishing illegal settlements in the perilous slopes.

The injunction remains unchallenged five years after Vice-President Saulos Chilima instructed the council to vacate it.

During a visit to Soche and Ndirande in December 2017, he told the communities that disasters would only worsen unless people moved to safe zones

Then, the city council indicated that it had identified land in Machinjiri Township for 50 000 people from disaster zones.

Similarly, the government announced that it had acquired more land in Mapanga along the Limbe–Zomba Road.

However, the population earmarked for relocation remains stuck in disaster zones.

Costly Chanza, the council’s director of town planning and estates services, says Soche Hill residents will be relocated to Mapanga by September.

“We have constantly engaged them and they know this already,” he says. “Since it’s a big area with several plots, layout plans, subdivisions and surveys take time.”

But some Cyclone Freddy survivors question the push for relocation.

“I’ve stayed here since 1983, so life won’t be easy in a new settlement,” says Chilobwe resident Matilda Ng’ambi, 66.

After the 40-year stay, she fled the muddy flash floods that ripped her grocery shop and three houses to rubble.

Ng’ambi cannot imagine a life without a viable income source. She wants guarantees that relocation will not disrupt her livelihood.

“Will my budding business thrive where we are going?” she asks. “Will they build a house for me to accommodate my six grandchildren?”

For most of Ngambi’s neighbours, the major fear is not what will happen if they leave.

Rather, the people who lost nearly everything, except hope and resilience, ask: Where will we find the money to buy safe land and building materials?

They argue that the hilly setting is dominated by low-income earners who cannot afford safe land which has become scarce in the country’s principal cities.

Says Magret Sitima, 40: “We are being pushed out of town by the fierce scramble for land which favours the rich.

“Even if I get land, where will I get money for costly building materials needed for resilient homes?”

Every downpour terrifies her, evoking memories of the cyclone which killed her father and mother.

“We don’t know what the rain will bring and what will happen to our relatives buried under the rubble. We need closure,” she states.

However, Department of Disaster Management Affairs (Dodma) spokesperson Chipiliro Khamula urges the city dwellers to learn from rural communities that relocated from disaster zones.

He narrates: “We have successfully relocated at least 4 000 households from Makhanga to Osiyana, Traditional Authority Mlolo in Nsanje District.

“We hope the cyclone survivors in Blantyre will borrow a leaf from this and safely move to Mapanga for their own good.”

Assessments by the Department of Geological Survey revealed that the huge rocks in Soche Hills still pose numerous risk to communities.

“As a temporary measure, we are working with the Malawi Defence Force to have the rocks destroyed,” he says. “The priority is to relocate people to safer places.”