1, 432 families left homeless

At least 1,432 households have been displaced in Machinga District alone following heavy rains that were accompanied by strong winds since November 19 this year.

The rains have also disrupted learning is some eight primary schools and Liwonde Secondary School in the area of Traditional Authority Sitola in the district.

The affected Primary Schools are Chabwera, Namisundu, Mgoza, Chinguni, Nampeya, Nankuyu, Namingwere and Mtwapwa

Out of the affected houses, 120 have completely been damaged, while 290 others have had their walls partly damaged, rendering the owners homeless.

As of Thursday, the affected people were yet to be provided with temporally shelter and other materials, such that most of them were lodging in the remains of the affected houses.

One of the affected person, Joyce Allan of Mtila Village appealed to well-wishers to come to the rescue of the people by providing them with materials which can help them reconstruct their houses.

“Most of us are living in the damaged houses and we are at risk that if the rains intensify, the remaining walls might collapse on us,” she said.

Speaking after visiting the affected areas, Vice President Everton Chimulirenji, who is also Minister responsible for Disaster Management Affairs assured the affected people that government will support them to recover from the disaster.

Chimulirenji said the Department of Disaster Management Affairs (DoDMA) has put in place mechanisms to quickly respond to people who will be affected during this rain season.

“At the moment we have about 8,150 metric tonnes of maize to support the affected households across the country. This support will be providing in concurrent with the Malawi lean season food assistance,” he said.

During the visit, Chimulirenji provided rice, roofing plastics and other items to the affected households.

Seventy-four households were also left homeless while learning has been affected in the Northern Region districts of Mzimba and Nkhata Bay within the same period.

The Department of Climate Change and Meteorological Services has said the rains are expected to continue and that people must take precautionary measures during the period.

In April this year, Cyclone Idai displaced over 600, 000 people while 60 people died in some parts of the country.