Dodma plans for cyclone recovery
The Department of Disaster Management Affairs (Dodma) has planned to partner with the National Economic Empowerment Fund (Neef) and will also provide assorted food items and rent for three months to help Tropical Cyclone Freddy survivors rebuild their lives.
Dodma Commissioner Charles Kalemba has told Malawi News that soon, the department will be decommissioning the camps and as such, they have planned a number of interventions to aid the affected people.
“For those who were residing in the city and lost their homes and are not working, we will give them food and rent for three months and a little something so that they can kick start a business. We may partner with Neef.
“For those in the village, we will give them food and roofing materials. We will also look at the possibility of social cash transfer,” he said.
Kalemba said while they are looking at decommissioning the camps when the rains stop, some camps have been decommissioned.
“For the city we are starting now; for the villages whoever is ready they can leave and they will be given their package. Because the thing is others have gone to the camps because we stopped giving lean season package. We turned to attend to those that were affected by the cyclone and were seeking shelter in camps.
“I have directed one of the directors to resume the lean package distribution,” he said.
Michael Kaiyatsa of the Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) commended Dodma for the post-disaster initiative.
He said though that there is need for medium and long-term plans for the recovery process.
“First of all, Dodma should be commended for coming up with a recovery plan. We have been talking about having a recovery plan in place. However, three months is a short period of time. There is need to come up with short-term, medium, and long-term plans. Survivors of this cyclone will need long-term plans. Their needs will go beyond the short term because some of them have lost everything. Others have lost all their guardians. It means they will need a long-term plan,” he said.
On Wednesday, Dodma announced that up to two million people have been affected by the cyclone which struck the country earlier last month.
