Mzuzu residents refuse to relocate from disaster areas

Mzuzu residents living in areas declared disaster-prone last year are refusing to relocate to new and safer places where Mzuzu City Council (MCC) has offered them plots for free, it has been established.

MCC spokesperson Karen Msiska said in an interview on Friday that the council identified a location and allocated the affected residents free plots but the people have turned down the offer.

He said: “The council identified 180 plots at Area 6 for the people who were affected by the disaster and all who live in the disaster-prone areas but they have all decided not to relocate because of various reasons.

“For example, some of them are failing to relocate because they have, perhaps, more than two houses which they are renting out and fear to lose out from rentals they get once relocated.”

In April last year, most parts of the Northern Region, including Mzuzu City and Karonga District, experienced persistent heavy rainfall which resulted in floods and landslides that damaged property and killed seven people after walls of their houses fell on them.

The situation prompted President Peter Mutharika to declare the affected places as disaster areas effective April 12 and asked for humanitarian relief assistance from well-wishers, both local and international.

Affected locations in Mzuzu City included parts of Ching’ambo, Masasa, Chibanja and Chiputula.

After touring the affected households last year, Vice-President Saulos Chilima ordered the city council to find a location where residents from disaster-prone areas could be resettled.

On why they are reluctant to move, Alick Nyamwera from Masasa residential area said they are finding it difficult to relocate because they feel the whole relocation process is corrupt.

Another concerned Masasa resident, Masida Mkandawire, said they cannot relocate to the new plots because of the absence of some amenities like electricity and others.

But Msiska pleaded with the residents to reconsider their decision, saying the council and Mzuzu University already conducted an assessment which concluded that locations such as Masasa are high disaster-prone, hence the need for people to relocate.

He said the council has developed a Disaster Strategic Framework which will guide various measures that stakeholders will take in case such tragedies strike again. n