14 000 households earmarked for resettlement
The Department of Disaster Management Affairs (Dodma) says it is working with the Malawi Red Cross Society (MRCS) to resettle 14 000 households of internally displaced people in five flood affected districts.
Speaking in Blantyre after receiving a donation of K8.5 million worth of medical drugs from the Rotary Club of Malawi, director of disaster response and recovery Harris Kachale said the medical drugs will serve as part of complimentary return package for the affected people.
Kachale said 500 households have already been provided with the packages which include 50 kilograms (kgs) of maize, 10 kgs of beans, tents, farm inputs, mosquito nets and blankets.
The resettlement package also includes construction of Transitional Shelters for 170 households by the MRCS in the three districts of Chikwawa, Nsanje and Phalombe.
“We are not forcing the people but reason with them on the advantage of moving upland as well as reuniting with their families instead of staying in camps.
“The donation has come at the right time as we are running out of stock of medical supply,” he said.
In his remarks, president of Rotary club Limbe, Eric Chinkanda, making the donation on behalf of the five Rotary Clubs of Malawi, said the donation was in fulfillment of their main objective which is to assist less privileged communities.
“We are planning to reach out to the affected people in three phases. At first, we donated food aid to five camps in Phalombe and Chikwawa, the donation of the medical drugs is the second phase and from here we are planning to work on rehabilitation of damaged infrastructure,” said Chinkanda.
Among the medical drugs include Antibiotics, Anti-malarial, pain killers, Antifungal, anti-epileptic as well as eye drops.
The Doctors Worldwide an organization based in the United Kingdom contributed close to K3 million towards the donation, other resources were raised through members of the clubs from both local and international.
Dodma is currently working with the Malawi Defense Force, a team of medical doctors from the South African army and the society of medical doctors in Malawi in proving medical supply to internally displaced people in the 17 districts that were affect by the March floods.
According to Kachale, the medical intervention has helped to prevent outbreaks of diseases such as cholera in the affected areas.
Minister of Homeland Security Nicholas Dausi on Saturday told reporters that the whole resettlement exercise for the internally displaced people to higher grounds will require K90 billion.
