Tropical Cyclone Freddy survivors in Mulanje District have accused authorities of neglecting them as some of them have not received relief items, including food since the disaster struck on March 12 2023.
The survivors, mostly from traditional authorities (T/As) Njema and Juma in the district, said relief items such as food and blankets are channelled to other areas, leaving them in the cold.
Survivors at Nsanjama Primary School and Mchoma Mosque evacuation camps in T/A Juma said they are at risk of dying of hunger as they have not taken a proper meal since their houses were destroyed.
They expressed the sentiments yesterday when Vice-President Saulos Chilima visited Mulanje to appreciate the extent of the damage and cheer survivors in various camps.
One of the survivors at Nsanjama evacuation camp, Vincent Mailos of Viliyera Village, pleaded with Chilima to help in facilitating distribution of food items at the camp.
He said: “We survived Cyclone Freddy disaster, but there is also another impending disaster which may finish us all here, that’s hunger.
“Some have stayed three weeks without eating a proper meal and we are surviving by the grace of God. We are wondering why we are being treated as if we are not Malawians.”
In Muloza, Mulanje Limbuli legislator Daudi Chida [Democ r a t i c Progressive Party] told Chilima that the situation in the area is dire as many survivors, particularly those seeking refuge in other people’s homes lack of food.
In an interview Mulanje district commissioner David Gondwe said the majority of people displaced in the district are in need help.
“If you go in some houses, you will find that one house is accommodating about three households because the other two families have no houses. So these people also need support. So we really need support as a council,” he said.
In his speech, Chilima, who also toured camps in Blantyre, directed Mulanje District Council to ensure that there is equal distribution of relief items. He said instead of distributing maize to survivors, they should distribute processed maize flour.
He also asked the council to facilitate the rehabilitation of the damaged part of the road after Muloza River connecting Malawi to Mozambique, saying the initiative will benefit Malawians.
Chilima expressed concern that three weeks after the road was damaged, it remains impassable making Malawi lose some revenue.
He said: “If we will wait for our colleagues in Mozambique to rehabilitate the damaged road it will take years, which will be to our disadvantage.
“I am speaking from experience because a similar incident occurred [in 2021] in Karonga where a bridge on the Tanzanian side was damaged.”
A visit to Muloza border est a b l i shed that goods, including relief items from Mozambique were stuck in the neighbouring country’s due to the condition of the M2.
Trucks carrying bags of maize were last week forced to off-load the maize about 10 metres from Malawi, according to officials in Mulanje.
