Dodma requires K100 billion for recovery

By Cathy Maulidi:

Malawi needs K100 billion to decommission camps that are sheltering Tropical Cyclone Freddy survivors, the Department of Disaster Management Affairs (Dodma) has disclosed.

Commissioner for Disasters Charles Kalemba said this Monday in Lilongwe, adding that Dodma intends to commence the decommissioning of the camps next week.

“We require a lot of resources for recovery. We also require a lot of resources for us to take the survivors back to their houses or new homes. I would say the devastation has been heavy as opposed to other cyclones we had previously, when not much was required to bring back survivors to their normal lives.

“Some people who have been assisted by relatives and well-wishers have already left the camps but some still need help. As for those from Blantyre City, some were renting houses and, as such, we need to rent other houses for them and pay [rentals for] at least three or four months. This is just to help them re-establish themselves,” Kalemba said.

He added that some people lost their houses, such that the department will have to come in to assist them construct temporary shelters while they move towards complete recovery, which would include permanent housing.

“We will also provide food to them for a period of time while they are trying to put their lives together,” he said.

Kalemba said, this notwithstanding, some people will still remain in camps as they cannot go back where they came from.

“There are various reasons for this. Some areas are disaster-prone and we need to relocate people to other areas. Take, for instance, the Makhanga people and those from some parts of Chilobwe; we have agreed to relocate them because people cannot rebuild in those places as those areas were already declared fragile years back.

“In that regard, we are working with the Ministry of Lands and city councils to relocate them. We will not allow a situation where they go back there,” Kalemba said.

He also told journalists that the department is almost done with damage assessment and a report will soon be made public.

Apart from claiming lives and rendering many homeless, Kalemba said health and education facilities have been heavily affected and are now unusable.

In the recently approved 2023-24 national budget, Finance Minister Sosten Gwengwe increased the Unforeseen Expenditure budget from K2 billion to K5 billion.

This budget is meant to address the aftermath of the disaster and other emergencies.

At the moment, 2.5 million people have been affected by the cyclone, 676 people have died, 537 are still missing, over 44 roads affected and countless bridges have been affected.