Chakwera visits thunderstorm victims as Kandodo donates relief items

Malawi Congress Party (MCP) president and leader of the opposition Lazarous Chakwera visited  affected people in Kauma Township in Lilongwe  after a ferocious storm wreaked havoc and affected some 1 100 families during a downpour soon after midnight on Friday.

Chakwera also comforted the family that lost a 10-year-old girl Shakila Banda through electrocution by a wire that was exposed during a storm. The girl was running toward safe shelter after her family’s home was damaged.

A man was also killed when a wall fell on him.

The MCP president said he was “deeply touched” with the death of Standard Five pupil Shakila and the havoc that the storm has caused in the area.

And former minister Ken Kandodo on Monday donated various relief items to the affected people at Kauma.

Speaking during the handover ceremony, Kandodo said: “I live near Kauma  in Area 43. Kauma people are my neighbours and I had to render support to my neighbours.”

Some of the items which Kandodo donated included; cooking oil, maize, maize flour, plastic buckets, blankets, and relish.

Member of Parliament for the area David Bisnowaty commended Kandodo for the assistance.

“I hope more people will come to assist in order to lessen the suffering of the people here,”

Malawi’s Vice President Saulos Chilima on Sunday visited some of the hundreds of displaced families.

Chilima who was accompanied by his wife, Mary, and Lilongwe City Council mayor, councillor Willy Chapondera, said government would send assistance and has appealed for international aid, especially shelter and food.

Department of disaster were also distributed plastic sheets but there was chaos as people were scrambling for the relief items.

Malawi’s Meteorology Department said climate change had brought on extreme weather patterns.

Two bodies, including that of an infant, were found floating in the river near the commercial capital Blantyre, police said.

Police said they were still looking for the body of an elderly woman in the Shire River, Malawi’s largest river.