Blantyre, Malawi
Reuters
In Malawi, where floods swept away entire villages this month after a storm tore through its southern districts, police officers and soldiers on Friday dug for victims buried under the mud and rocks as the death toll rose sharply.
The storm has pounded the southern African country as tropical Cyclone Freddy swept through the region killing more than 500 people in Malawi, Mozambique and Madagascar since it first made landfall in Africa in late February and circled back for a second time over the weekend.
Members of the Malawian Army and locals help the community to recover bodies of victims in Chimwankhunda township in the aftermath of Tropical Cyclone Freddy in Blantyre, Malawi, on 17th March, 2023. PICTURE: Reuters/Esa Alexander
While the storm had dissipated, rain continued to hamper rescue efforts as vehicles struggled on flooded roads.
MALAWIANS FEAR STORM FREDDY COULD MAKE DEADLIEST CHOLERA OUTBREAK WORSE
Despite her fears, Fyness Afiki joined other women drawing dirty water from a well in Malawi’s second-biggest city Blantyre, which is still reeling from the devastation caused by Tropical Storm Freddy.
“I am fearful of cholera but there is no potable water and I have no option. I don’t have money,” she told Reuters on Friday in Blantyre’s Ndirande township.
Malawi seemed to be getting its deadliest cholera outbreak yet under control, with World Health Organization figures showing a decline in cases and deaths, but locals and health experts worry that trend could quickly reverse in Freddy’s wake.
One of the strongest and deadliest storms ever in Africa, the storm has killed over 420 people in Malawi alone, with heavy rains, floods and mudslides making access to clean drinking water impossible for many.
Cholera spreads through contaminated water and food. Many people have mild symptoms, but it can kill within hours if untreated.
“Unfortunately…there is a real concern now that we could in the next few weeks see a reversal in the gains that were so hard-won over the past month or so,” said Arielle Nylander, senior health policy analyst at WaterAid.
Eunice Mselemu, a nurse who works at a cholera camp in a health facility near Blantyre, said she had observed cases already increasing and is concerned overwhelmed health workers will be unable to cope.
Robert Hanjahanja, chief executive of the city’s water board, which is battling to fix broken water pipes, said there was a crisis.
Malawi has conducted two oral cholera vaccination campaigns, but a global surge in cholera outbreaks has meant vaccines are in short supply. WHO officials say the best that countries like Malawi can do is to stretch their meagre resources and try to contain outbreaks as they emerge.
Another Ndirande resident, Francis Moyani, said he was determined to get the cholera vaccine as he was scared of contracting the disease.
“As things are, cholera will rise and I want to be fully protected,” he said.
– ELDSON CHAGARA, Blantyre, Malawi/Reuters
In Malawi, which has suffered the brunt of the storm with 438 killed, soldiers used shovels and picks to exhume bodies in the commercial capital Blantyre and laid them on the ground for identification.
Lieutenant Colonel Dickens Kamisa, who participated in the search, said local authorities identified about eight areas where dead bodies should be buried and were using sniffer dogs to find trapped Malawians.
Chifundo Chilimba, a local resident, told Reuters he could not find his family members as the depth of the mud was too deep.
“My relatives could be deep down under the debris,” Chilimba said in his local language of Chichewa, adding that the only thing he was able to find were his family’s clothes.
“We are going to bury these clothes I am carrying in the case that they are not found,” he added.
To help in search and rescue efforts, foreign aircraft and boats were arriving in Malawi on Friday, officials said.
The country’s police inspector, Casper Chalera, told Reuters by telephone that the first rescue vessels will arrive from Zambia and Switzerland, adding that the US and South Africa were also planning to send aid aircraft and boats.
“Two Zambian planes, one carrying relief items and a helicopter for aerial operations have landed,” Chalera said.
Lameck Kalenga, Defence Force Deputy Chief of military operations, told media on Thursday that the United Kingdom and Mozambique had also pledged to send military equipment.
The United Nations World Food Programme said it was providing food assistance by distributing partially pre-cooked food called corn-soya blend to displaced people.
“[Severe flooding] has inundated farmlands and destroyed produce – just as farmers were about to harvest the only crop of the year – compounding an already difficult year in which 3.8 million people need food assistance,” the WFP said in a statement.
It added that the country has been affected by high maize prices and the worst cholera epidemic in decades.
At least 76 people have died in Mozambique, according to government figures. The storm had already killed about 27 people in Madagascar and Mozambique before it lashed Mozambique a second time.
