Malawi Flooding: $10m needed for disaster relief

—176 people killed,
—175 000 displaced
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Malawi needs over K5 billion (about $10m) to rehabilitate and provide relief to the victims of floods and hailstorms that have wreaked havoc in the country, killing 176 people and displacing 174 500, Vice-President Saulos Chilima disclosed on Friday.
Speaking exclusively to Weekend Nation, Chilima said the required resources will be mobilised from government’s own means and well-wishers.
“As the rescue mission continues, we have to source tents. We have to provide accommodation for survivors. We have to see whether certain structures can be rehabilitated quickly. The affected people have to be fed too,” he said.
Another consideration, the Vice-President said, will be to ensure that survivors whose gardens were swept away are given fresh farm inputs to replant.
“There are also roads to be rehabilitated to facilitate the movement of relief supplies to the affected areas,” he said.
Persistent rains from last week have resulted in flash floods and hailstorms in 15 districts, which have caused, according to an official report issued yesterday, 176 deaths and rendered 174 114 people homeless and severely destroyed property and infrastructure.
Information Minister, Kondwani Nankhumwa, told Weekend Nation on Thursday the UN has been moved to provide relief experts and aircraft to help deal with the challenges that have overwhelmed the local capacities.
He could not specify the number of the said experts and the exact tasks that they will be assigned, but disclosed the aircraft were expected to arrive in the country yesterday.
“These aircraft will immediately join the rescue mission and relief efforts currently being spearheaded by the Malawi Defence Force,” he said.
Without directly referring to the minister’s comments, United Nations resident coordinator Mia Seppo said in a written response to our questionnaire that various UN agencies were deploying additional staff to support the response to the floods.
—Relief efforts—
Seppo said Unicef will shortly be bringing in a plane-load of supplies, water and sanitation equipment or temporary education and nutrition supplies and other essential non-food items such as tents, tarpaulins and cooking equipment.
“The food response is funded by UK, US and Germany. The cash response is funded by Norway and Ireland,”said Seppo.
She added that supplies that had already been deployed to the affected areas include tents, food, buckets, chlorine for water purification and latrine slabs.
She said WFP, UNFPA, FAO, UNDP and other UN agencies are also rendering support.
A statement issued by WFP yesterday says the agency is planning an airlift of more than 100 metric tonnes of high energy biscuits from the UN Humanitarian Response Depot in Dubai, which it says is enough to meet the immediate food needs of 77 000 people.
“Initial estimates suggest that as many as 20 000 households (about 110 000 people) are displaced,” reads the statement.
President Peter Mutharika on Tuesday declared all affected districts as Disaster Areas and appealed to the local and international community to come to the aid of his administration to confront the challenge.
Principal secretary for Disaster Management, Paul Chiunguzeni, said in a separate interview on Thursday that two separate foreign relief experts had arrived in the country and were working with his team in coordinating relief efforts.
He added that the World Bank and World Vision International were also actively involved in the relief mission that has also received support from a number of local players, including the Malawi Red Cross Society.
“The World Vision International has made available shelter and food items to the victims, while the World Bank has provided financial resources,” he said.
The Malawi Red Cross on Wednesday donated goods worth K9 million to flood victims.
“Major focus of Malawi Red Cross is to provide the displaced families with shelter and blankets as well as household items,” said secretary general of Red Cross, Ethel Kaimila.
The Red Cross donation, according to Kaimila, is expected to benefit close to K2 500 families in Nsanje, which is one of the worst hit districts.
Chiunguzeni lamented that some places, among them, the East Bank and Chief Makhwira area in Chikwawa had by Thursday afternoon not been accessed because of irreparable damage caused to the communication infrastructure.
The latest weather bulletin issued by the Department of Meteorological Services says the risk of flooding in the country is still very high.
“The risks of flooding are still very high mainly in the Shire Valley and avoid crossing fast-flowing streams and rivers,” reads the bulletin issued on January 15 and is valid until January 20.