By Isaac Salima:
Almost five months after the country was hit by Tropical Cyclone Freddy, most district councils seem clueless in their recovery efforts.
Some districts in the Southern Region were hit by the cyclone, killing 679 people and displacing 659,300 others.
Four months before the next rainy season, we took it to the district councils to learn about what they are doing in the relocation exercise.
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Disaster Officer for Blantyre District Council Cosmas Mangoka said nothing much has been done on the ground.
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“We were waiting for all the concerned stakeholders like chiefs, community members and the flood survivors themselves to meet and map the way forward. The people were supposed to meet a fortnight ago but they didn’t,” Mangoka said.
Mangoka further said, after the decommissioning of camps, they promised the survivors that they would be reaching out to them with support but are yet to fulfil it because of lack of resources.
In Machinga, which was one of the hardest hit districts, district council spokesperson Martin Chiwanda conceded that they have not made much headway in their recovery efforts.
“There is nothing we can say that we have done so far. However, it is our wish that we find partners to assist us in helping people who were affected to rebuild. As at now, we have managed to find places to relocate the people but we cannot just move them without looking into other areas of need,” Chiwanda said.
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Mulanje District Commissioner David Maxwell Gondwe lamented that they have not been receiving adequate support to assist those still in evacuation camps.
“We still have people in camps but we have not been receiving the much needed support to reach out to them. However we have identified some land to relocate the people and Dodma [Department of Disaster Management Affairs] and Habitat for Humanity will assist us in building houses for the people,” Gondwe said.
Some people we talked in Soche, Blantyre, said they are eager to relocate but do not know where to go.
At Misewu Four in Soche, heaps of stones that descended from Soche Hills are still posing a threat to people in the area.
People are still staying in damaged houses as they do not have anywhere to go.
“Where will we go? We would like to move out but where will we go? We do not have food and, so, we cannot be talking of relocating. Sadly, few months from now, we will be in the rainy season and we will still be staying in these damaged houses,” Agness Miseko said.
Recently, there were reports that Blantyre City Council (BCC) had allocated a piece of land at Mapanga in Chiradzulu to those that were affected by the cyclone.
BCC Chief Executive Officer Dennis Chimsewu said they are waiting to hear from the Ministry of Lands to formally present the land to them.
Minister of Lands Deus Gumba was quoted as saying that the government has identified areas in Blantyre, Zomba and Chikwawa to relocate cyclone survivors.
Meanwhile, Dodma Commissioner Charles Kalemba has said they are making strides in the recovery efforts.
“Almost 90 percent of our recovery efforts have been done. In terms of relocation, it is councils that are supposed to provide land. A strategy is being finalised on rebuilding as different sectors are looking at their issues. We, as Dodma, only facilitated documents for the processes,” Kalemba said.
