Malawi seeks food aid for Karonga quake victims
Malawi on Monday launched an emergency appeal for food and tents for victims of a strong weekend earthquake that left three dead and about 300 injured in the northern part of the country.
“We immediately need family tents, blankets, plastic sheets, maize flour and other items so that families are not separated,” Lilian Ng’oma, commissioner for the government’s Disaster Management Department, said in a statement.
Up to 4 676 people have been displaced and 1 110 houses destroyed after a series of quakes over the last two weeks in the uranium-mining Karonga district.
Sunday’s quake registered at least six on the Richter scale, the largest since the tremors began two weeks ago, geologists said.
“We are asking well-wishers including donors, religious organisations, business people and individuals to come forward with assistance,” Ng’oma said.
“We will appreciate any assistance rendered,” she added.
Ng’oma said her department was also looking for “big tents to keep pupils in schools” after scores of classroom blocks collapsed and others developed cracks.
She said she hoped that President Bingu wa Mutharika would “soon declare the area a disaster.”
Malawi has recorded the quake at 6,2, while the US Geological Survey put it at six. It struck at 1.19am local time on Sunday.
Tagged with: Bingu, earthquake, Karonga, Lilian Ng'oma
Old Article more than 4 months. Comment is closed.
