Horror in Malawi As Floods Displace 45 000 people

By Henry Kijimwana Mhango

It is never raining but pouring in Sub- Saharan, Malawi where hail storms and floods continue to displace people, with the latest incident being the dislocation of about 45 000 people from various flood prone areas in the country.

Even government is at lost to explain the great mystery hit the country as it has so far claimed about six lives according to the local media reports.

“I may not be able to give you the exact number of the affected people because the figures are changing rapidly” said Commissioner for Department of Disaster Management Affairs, Paul Chiunguzu in an interview, adding “The situation is likely to worsen into national calamity”.

However, Chiunguzu said the disaster has displaced about 7 500 households (translating to about 45 000 people given that an average household in Malawi has six members.

Most of the affected parts are in the southern region, and include Chikwawa, Mangochi, Zomba and Nsanje which lies along the largest and crocodile manifested Shire River.

The floods which have severe destroyed houses and crops are said to have been caused by the over flooding of the Shire and Likangala rivers among others, following heavy rains that has been continuously falling in the country for the past two weeks.

One woman in Zomba was washed away by Likangala River, and people in one village in Nsanje were using a canoe to evacuate victims as Malawi Defence Force soldiers were quickly moving in to take control of the situation.

The situation has been described as worrisome as the Director of Climate Change in the Department of Climate Change and Metrological Services Elina Kalulunga says “The central and northern part of the country will continue having heavy rains.”

Meanwhile, the commissioner for the Disaster Dept. says the department which was allocated about 340 909 USD in the 2014-2015 budget needs an extra same amount to respond to the disasters hitting the country this year. “What we have been given is not enough to cope with the magnitude of the calamity,” He said.

Posted by Kunda on January 12, 2015. Filed under AFRICA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

8 Responses to Horror in Malawi As Floods Displace 45 000 people

Zick

January 12, 2015 at 7:43 pm

Sorry our brothers and sisters
- Jane Mulenga
  
  January 13, 2015 at 5:10 am
  
  From independent analyst
  If elections were held today on January 7th, 2015 and if 50% of registered voters turned up which is 2,583,577 people voting, 1,493, 457 (57.81%) would vote HH country wide, and 825, 624, (31.95%) would vote EL and 197, 605 (7.65%)would vote NM and 66, 892 (2.59%) would vote the FDD.
  Therefore Current Opinion based of 50 sampled registered voters in each province by province weight of voters numbers and with margin of error of +_ 3%. RESULTS Lusaka HH 55%, EL 33, NM 6%, EN 6% ,Luapula HH 35%, EL 52%, NM 10 % EN 3% Northern HH42%, EL 51% NM 6%, EN 1% Muchinga HH 29%, EL 52% NM 10% EN 9% Copperbelt HH 49%, EL 40%, NM 10%, EN 1% Central HH 58%, EL 35% NM 5%, EN 2% Eastern HH 49%,EL 47% NM 3% EN 1% Southern HH 87%, EL 8% NM 4% EN 1% Western HH 87%, EL 9%,NM 3% EN 1% Northwestern HH 87%. EL 10% NM 2%, EN 1%, Sondashi 2%. These are based on the application of the product probability sum of averages of voter ratios. This will give HH 57.81 % of the national vote. With EL on 31.95%. In this more exhaustive approach my margin of error is 3% meaning that HH’s pessimistic result would be 54.81% and EL’s optimistic result would be at 34.95%. Seeing that there are now two main players in this two horse race, this very scientific method concludes HH will be President elect. THANK YOU FOR FOLLOWING MY POLL AS THIS IS MY LAST POLL BEFORE ELECTION DAY. PLEASE NO VIOLENCE AND NO TRIBAL REMARKS AND CHARACTER ASSASINATION. STICK TO ISSUES AND DEFEND THESE NUMBERS.
Renee

January 12, 2015 at 10:16 pm

Zambians sympathize with you our beloved brothers and sisters of nyasaland.
KAPOWELA WAMU P*U*S*S*Y

January 13, 2015 at 7:59 am

BA JANE I THINK INWE ICHINYO CHENU CHILABABA SAANA
Chibote

January 13, 2015 at 8:05 am

Ba Jane Mulenga mukalila pa 22 January 2015.
jay

January 13, 2015 at 1:22 pm

Ba Jane yatekeni panshi tapapata! abanenu balelosha, mwebo mule chita un-hallucinate! kwena mwebo sumukeni ko kubwamba panono mumone ichishinka!
blink

January 14, 2015 at 6:58 am

Blantyre – Malawi’s president says heavy flooding in the southern African country has killed 48 people and left another 23 000 displaced.

President Peter Mutharika declared 10 out of 28 districts in the country disaster zones on Tuesday.

Planning officer Grey Mkwanda said some of the victims died when villages were flooded in the southern Mangoche district, about 100km south of the commercial capital, Blantyre. Livestock, crops and homes were swept away by flood waters.

Others died in Blantyre when their homes collapsed, according to Mkwanda.

Mutharika has appealed to the international community for assistance for the impoverished country.

Officials were unable to visit the affected areas due to continuing poor weather.
The African

January 14, 2015 at 7:49 am

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