An appeal has gone out to government and relevant stakeholders to fast-track the disaster recovery process following the devastating floods that affected the country’s 15 districts.  

Nsanje North Legislator Esther MCheka Chilenje, whose area was the worst hit, told YFM that despite that people in her constituency have returned to their respective homes, more needs to be done towards improving social welfare of the floods victims.

“At the moment I have seen that most of the victims have gone back to their homes, they have established some homes, which some are temporary, some permanent through the Malata Cement Subsidy Programme, but more needs to be done to provide social amenities for the victims,” she said.

A recently released 2019 Floods Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) Report indicates that about 60 people died, and 975, 000 were affected, whilst 86, 976 got displaced due to the devastating floods largely caused due to Cyclone Idai.

According to Chilenje, Nsanje North is a flood prone area and that permanent dykes and bridges need to be strategically constructed to avoid the re-occurrence of the disaster.

“Nsanje North was one of the areas that was hardly hit by floods, talk of the 2015 and the current floods also, this current flood we had about 6, 185 victims that were affected by floods,” she said.

The Malawi 2019 PDNA Report highlights that the country needs $370.5 million which is approximately K290 billion to recover the production, social and infrastructure sectors following the damage caused by the devastating floods.

Nsanje was the worst hit district by the devastating floods followed by Machinga and Chikwawa districts.