Mutharika visits floods victims in eastern Malawi: Pictorial
President Peter Mutharika on Friday visited areas hit by floods and cheered victims of the disaster in Mangochi and Balaka districts.
Earlier this week, the Head of State declared a third of the country to be a disaster zone and appealed for help.
Mutharika has called the floods a “national tragedy that urgently needs both local and international response”.
The Malawi leader, who was accompanied by the First Lady Madam Gertrude Mutharika, assured the people affected by the disaster of government’s total support and assistance to minimise their suffering .
He said since the declaration of the flood districts a disaster, there has been overwhelming response from within and outside the country.
The President said the government has received inquiries on the assistance needed from countries such as Sweden, South Africa, United States of America, Botswana among others.
Among other things he said the goverment will immediately give the displaced families most of whom are accommodated in schools, food supplies and provide them with tents.
The death toll from floods ravaging Malawi has risen to 176 with many more missing and 200,000 homeless, Vice President Saulos Chilima said Friday, as more heavy rain was predicted.
Speaking after flying in a military helicopter over the worst affected Lower Shire districts of Nsanje and Chikwawa in the south, he said the country faced “a big challenge”.
Earlier, disaster officials warned that more heavy rain was expected.
“The government is urging people living in flood-prone districts to urgently relocate to upland areas to avoid losing more lives,” said Paul Chiunguzeni, principal secretary for Disaster Management Affairs.
The floods, which have wreaked havoc on half the the country’s 28 districts, have disrupted power supplies, plunging some areas into darkness.
Chirunguzeni said about 1,180 flood victims stranded on patches of high ground had been evacuated since rescue missions with military helicopters and boats were launched Thursday.
In a statement Friday, African Union chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said the organisation would give the “highest priority to providing modest humanitarian assistance” to Malawi “as soon as possible”.
The World Food Programme said it would airlift stocks to flooded areas.
“Ready-to-eat food will be prioritised for the most vulnerable people, particularly children, who have been displaced from their homes and have no access to food or cooking facilities,” the WFP said.
Five major roads in the south have been closed after bridges were washed away, including some on the road to the prime tourist destination of Mangochi on the shores of Lake Malawi.
This made an access to the hardest-hit areas “extremely difficult”, the WFP said.
Hein Zeelie of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the central and northern parts of the country were the agency’s next concern “as we are expecting heavy rains for those areas for the next week”.
“A lot of preparation activities have been taking place for the rainy season, but no matter how well prepared one could have been, the extreme amount of rainfall would have led to this situation.”—(Additional reporting by Felix Mponda, AFP)
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kikikikikikikikikiki ndipo anthu omwe nyumba zawo zili mmadzi sanawafikile anabwelera pa main venue ya function yakeyo. Anthu ten ndikulandira ma blanket ndi nyemba 10 kgs chimanga chinabwelera osachigawa
Nanunso inu a Rock President sangakwanise kuyendera anthu ovutika ndi madziwo khomo ndi khomo. He is very busy man @this time. Pls write sensible mufwetu.
Some people just like to criticize basi. What matters is that the president went to visit the affected areas n saw mavuto omwe anthu akumana nawo. Zoti anavala suit zilibe ntchito. Thats nothing. Its not even an issue. Why anthu enanu mumangopanga criticize zinthu mwa emotional n personal?? I mean even osachita manyazi kupanga post such type of comments? Come on lets be objective n sober in our criticisms. Seriously nkhani yazovala seriously??
Limeneli likuoneka kuti ndi bulangati la anthu avutikitsitsa osati omwe akupelekawo. Zikomo bwana president
I have been reading some comments which suggest that the president was ill advised by wearing a suit at his visit to the disaster area. Well in my opinion i don’t think because wat he was wearing was not a suit at all. A suit is a jacket and a pair of trouser that looks a like. What matters most is the intention and not what wears and after all for earth sake it wasn’t a suit. The only error they did was to put the red carpet.
im very thankful the pipo who trying to help malawi God bless you
im very sorry for all malawians although am in south africa. I will also try to help some of them its very sad story but God is with us
Iweyo ukunyoza ? Iweyo wapereka chiyani. Khaya bulangete ndi laling’ono pena ai none of ur concern. Bravo Peter. You are moving in the right direction
Enawatu akufuna alemererepo ndithu. Chithandidzo bwana wathu ndiye wapempha ndipo chayamba kale kufika mdziko muno. Tingowapemphanso abwana omwewo kuti apange zothekera kuti anthu okhawo omwe ali oyenera kulandira thandizoli alandiredi. Chifukwa monga tikudziwa tonse kuti “UMBANDA” wakula kwambiri ku Nyasalande, let’s just pray kuti ntchitoyi iyende bwino ndi kukafikira awo amene ali okhudzidwa.
Nkhani yomvetsa chosoni,
Can someone please tell me how to go about to donate some money. I have about K200,000 that I feel can go long way my problem is am in SA. Please can someone or an organization send me an email on [email protected]. I really feel for the affected people and I Pray to God to give them strength.