Habitat for Humanity for disaster resilient houses in Lower Shire
Habitat for Humanity Malawi says participatory approach for safe shelter has the potential to protect communities in flood-prone areas.
The organisation’s disaster risk reduction coordinator Alfred Kaliwo said this at Nkhwazi Village, Traditional Authority (T/A) Ngabu in Chikwawa where he handed over a disaster resilient house to a vulnerable female-headed household.
“People can live well during flood periods if they are encouraged to use locally available resources to construct houses with raised foundations,” he said.
Kaliwo said through the post-floods recovery and disaster risk reduction project, they constructed the house, trained 16 artisans and 30 safe shelter volunteers and also distributed build back better messages as well as affordable disaster resilient home repair designs and techniques.
Chikwawa district council building supervisor Edmund Hana asked communities to embrace new building technologies with the same available little resources to be safe from floods.
A beneficiary of the model house, Maria Nelio, commended Habitat for Humanity for building a decent house for her.
Habitat for Humanity Malawi has been implementing the post floods recovery and disaster risk reduction project to promote resilience and enhance capacity of affected communities to recover and access appropriate quality shelter in parts of the Southern Region.
ADH Germany’s Relief Coalition has provided financial assistance for the project. n
