Effects of floods will not pass soon—WFP
The World Food Programme (WFP) has said the impact of the floods on the livelihood of victims will not pass within the next month or two because the damage caused is too huge.
WFP southern Africa regional director Chris Nikoi said this during a press briefing at Bangula, Nsanje on Friday after he together with World Vision Malawi national director Robert Kisyula, the Department of Disaster Management Affairs (Dodma) commissioner Paul Chiunguzeni and other officials visited Chigwamafumu Camp in Makhanga, Nsanje which is only accessible by boats and helicopters.
Nikoi said he came to Malawi to have first-hand information of what Malawi experienced in the past weeks and he said all the affected people he talked to said they just woke up in the morning and found themselves in water.
“Surely the disaster exceeded all the contingency plans that government puts aside because it just happened unexpectedly and there is a need to think in the long-term, that is, how the affected people are going to be assisted while they pick up their lives together,” said Nikoi.
He said he will take the issue of Malawi’s disaster and how it needs assistance to WFP executive board in Rome, Italy, this week and at all other meetings he will be attending.
Nikoi commended government’s efforts in ensuring that all affected people receive assistance because looking at the scale of the disaster and for a country such as Malawi, which has not yet achieved fiscal resilience, the disaster was just too huge.
Chiunguzeni said when a visitor visits camps accommodating flood victims and asks them if they have food, the obvious answer is no, but government, with assistance from humanitarian organisations is doing whatever possible to provide relief aid to the affected individuals.
“Our colleagues in the health sector are also assisting us in making sure that sanitation issues are addressed in the camps and, currently, we have not had any serious outbreak,” said Chiunguzeni.
According to the national Preliminary Response Plan, 174 000 people have been displaced by floods in the three most affected districts of Nsanje, Chikwawa and Phalombe alone. About 370 000 people are in urgent need of food assistance and 638 000 people have been affected by loss of crops.
