Of the tragic flood

Tom Sangala January 19, 2015

1,544 3 minutes read

By the time I was writing this article, the floods that hit the country last week had affected over 175 000 people in the country and 176 people were reported killed by the floods. The floods wreaked havoc in 15 districts of the country with Nsanje and Chikwawa, in the Lower Shire, being the worst affected districts.

The commercial city of Blantyre was also painfully affected with areas like Chilobwe suffering massive damage. Power cuts, water shortage, network interruptions, transportation disruption, and the standing still of most businesses was the order of the day during the three tragic days from Sunday to Tuesday last week.

One thing I learnt during this disaster was that so much can be lost within a short period. The damage done within 72 hours is incredible in relation to the time it will take to construct lives. And this only applies to what can be built back, but for those that have lost their lives, nothing can be done to return those lost lives. I would like to take this opportunity to offer my sincere condolences to the people that lost their friends and relatives during this unfortunate disaster.

Life is not fair, unexpected things happen and we are forced to deal with them whether we want to or not. There is always something to learn from such tragic situations. I have heard people mention that some of the buildings that were washed away were not built to the required standards and positioning. A colleague of mine also lamented about the fact that our roads always end up being washed away during the rainy season and that the skills and expertise put into the construction of roads needs to be re-evaluated.

What we can learn from this tragedy is to be more alert in our day to day lives and of our surrounding. The destruction from the disaster can easily turn into a platform for innovations on how to end up in less fortunate circumstances if such disasters were to re-occur.

For one, our water board and Escom can help us by coming up with innovations to avoid massive and long term disruption of water and power supply during such heavy rains. I mean the rains are strenuous enough on their own and the fact that you have to go home to a dark house with no heat, no food and no running water is like adding salt and pepper to a gushing wound.

In conclusion, and also most importantly, now that we are here in this unfortunate situation; I appeal to all Malawians to help each other during this tragic time. If there are people close to you that have been affected by the floods, it will be human to render the little support that you can. It doesn’t always need to be much; some food; some clothes, shelter, water and just the moral support will go a long way for someone who is destitute.

From the look of the things, we need to brace ourselves for more heavy rains. There are chances that the country might experience more flooding in days to come as the meteorological department announced. Sometimes there is more damage done because of panic and lack of preparedness. It is largely important that as citizens we should be more alert and be prepared for anything. My last article titled “Together we can” talked about the importance of working together to move forward; one such time is now and it is desperately important that we work together.

Feedback on Together We Can

Dear Miss Lorraine

I read your article in Daily Times titled as the email hearing above. Nice article.

Honestly, it is that spirit of unity that promotes development. Over the weekend I was chatting with my sister and she also commented on some issues as those at the funeral. People in the village may choose to not support someone at a funeral if they hadn’t been supportive to others. It is in such situation where you understand the spirit of helping others since you are overwhelmed by the loss as well as the works involved.

As you already pointed out, mutu umodzi susenza denga, kapena Chaka chimodzi sichiswa nsabwe. Therefore, just as in funerals and weddings, we can support each other or the country in development. Let us own this country and move forward. Let us learn that selfishness cannot help Malawi. Spirit of togetherness and understanding can alleviate the poverty, crime and poor quality of development projects done in Malawi