Govt to roll out disaster recovery plan
Department of Disaster Management Affairs (Dodma) says it will this month roll out the Tropical Cyclone Ana and Gombe Five-year Recovery Plan targeting areas that did not secure funding when cyclones hit the country.
Speaking in Lilongwe yesterday after meeting a delegation from Madagascar, Dodma disaster response and recovery director Moses Chimphepo said the recovery plan will focus on all major clusters.
He said: “We are focusing on all major clusters such as shelter, infrastructure, health and education. The plan will provide direction to all humanitarian partners who are working in the country on how to move forward.”
Chimphepo said shelter remains one of the biggest challenges facing victims of cyclones Ana and Gombe.
“We have provided them some temporary shelters, but we want to see how these people can build back better with support from partners who will give a hand on this,” he said.
On his part, Madagascar’s National Office of Risk and Disaster Management technical adviser Bruno Emmanuel said they hope to share a lot with Malawi.
World Food Programme (WFP) deputy country director Simon Denhere said both Malawi and Madagascar are in the southern region of Africa such that the disasters they face are quite similar.
“We have similar problems, it makes sense to share experiences so that we know how to address the problems when they hit us,” he said.
Dodma, in collaboration with WFP, have organised the meeting to discuss various aspects of disaster risk management, including preparedness and response; logistics and supply chain management during crises; as well as various legal and policy instruments for disaster risk management.
According to Dodma, in January this year, Tropical Storm Ana affected 995 000 people with 190 000 displaced, 46 deaths, 18 missing and 206 injured.
In March, Tropical Cyclone Gombe affected an additional 159 226 people with 11 008 people displaced, 39 deaths and 27 injuries.
The National Disaster Management Agency from the Republic of Madagascar are in the country for a disaster risk management (DRM) technical exchange visit to share experiences, lessons learnt and suggested solutions in the implementation of DRM programmes.
