Flood-swept village feels neglected
Surviving members of Ntauchila Village in Traditional Authority Likokwe in Chiradzulu where mudslides swept away the entire village feel helpless and accuse authorities of neglecting the search for missing persons in the area.
The people, mostly the youth, say they are tired of searching for the missing people alone using hoes, arguing that authorities seem to focus on urban areas, ignoring their village located about 25 kilometres from Limbe in Blantyre.
The community members say they believe that bodies of about 17 people who went missing after the mudslide due to the impact of Tropical Cyclone Freddy remain buried in the mud within the area.
In an interview on Saturday, Chitani Kausiwa claimed that since the mudslide on March 14, Malawi Defence Force (MDF) search and rescue team tried to conduct the operation in the village, but left the same day without conducting the search.
He said the community has tried to employ all the available avenues to retrieve the missing bodies, but have failed and ask authorities to intervene in the operation.
“We still believe that our relatives were buried by the mudslides within the village. Maybe if government can come in with sniffer dogs or earth moving equipment, definitely they will recover more bodies,” said Kausiwa, whose house is one of a few that survived the disaster.
Another community member, Witmos Khomba, corroborated Kausiwa’s sentiments, claiming that locals have been conducting searches without support from Chiradzulu District Council or police.
During a visit to the village on Saturday when Vice-President Saulos Chilima cheered some survivors, a stench of decomposed matter could be felt in the air.
In an interview yesterday, Chiradzulu district commissioner Francis Matewere said the council has been working in collaboration with community members in the area to search for the missing people.
He said sometimes community members do the searching operations themselves because district council officials are assigned to provide others services in other camps such as donations.
Said Matewere: “As we are talking now, police with sniffer dogs and health personnel are in the village search for missing bodies for possible identification.
“We found some areas were stinking, but after digging, we discovered that it was just garbage. But on Friday, they [community members] recovered a body of a child. It was in a decomposed state.”
According to the council, the village had about 200 people.
St Joseph Mission Hospital principal nursing officer Taylor Kondowe is on record was having said the Nguludi-based facility received 76 patients on March 14 2023 following the impact of mudslides caused by Tropical Cyclone Freddy.
He said seven people were pronounced dead on arrival at the facility, and 26 were admitted.
“Thirty patients were treated as outpatients while 12 were referred to Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre,” said Kondowe.
As of yesterday, the district had recorded 17 deaths.
