260 households affected by stormy rains in Blantyre need help — Official
Blantyre Disaster Management Officer, Walusungu Mwafulirwa Tuesday said about 260 households need immediate support having been hit by the stormy rains late last year.
Mwafulirwa said between 24 and 29December, 2017, heavy rains accompanied by strong winds destroyed 260 houses in Traditional Authority Somba and Kapeni, leaving many families in dire need of food, clothing and other basic needs.
He said the disaster office has not yet responded to the crisis and that a total of K3.2 million is required for the recovery response.
“Since the rain started last year, as a district, we have only reported 260 households affected by stormy rains which damaged roofs of many houses. Many people lost their property and are in desperate need for our support.
“We reported the issue to our head office and it is yet to respond. However, from the look of things, we may start responding starting from next week,” said Mwafulirwa.
He added the report was also shared with stakeholders working in Blantyre for them to come in and assist the needy Malawians.
Mwafulirwa said according to the contingency plan, Blantyre District will need a total of K1.5 billion in the 2017/2018 disaster season.
“This year alone, we planned that pre-disaster response will require K728.3 million, impact disaster response K566.4 million and recovery disaster response a total of K20.3 million,” he explained.
However, the disaster officer complained that delay in disbursement of funds from the headquarters was seriously affecting operations of the district office.
“We are not yet a devolved sector and we only wait for the central office to approve our activities. For instance, up to now we have not conducted any disaster awareness campaigns,” Mwafulirwa said.
Meanwhile, the disaster officer has appealed to well-wishers to come in and help out the affected communities.
Follow and Subscribe Nyasa TV :