Communities in Nsanje District have rolled out a Participatory Approach for Safe Shelter Awareness (Passa) project to raise awareness on the risks associated with poor houses.
The project comes after Malawi Red Cross Society trained over 110 community-based disaster risk reduction team (CBDRRT) members in Traditional Authority (T/A) Ndamela through a project called Enhancing Resilience in Malawi.
The project is being funded by Humanitarian Aid, Belgium Red Cross, The Netherlands Red Cross and Danish Red Cross.
In an interview on Wednesday, Mary Kamba, who is one of the CBDRRT members, said there is need to initiate changes in their respective areas by imparting knowledge on the negative impact of unsafe shelter in disaster-prone areas.
She said: “Our area is prone to disasters, especially water flooding and strong winds.
“These disasters have always wreaked havoc and could not spare our houses. So, after being trained on Passa, we went back to the communities and formed groups.”
Kamba said 15 groups comprising 10 members were trained to ensure that they acquire the needed knowledge.
Nsanje Malawi Red Cross Society district coordinator Patricia Gadi said the intervention will go a long way in addressing some of the challenges people in T/A Ndamela have been encountering.
Passa is an initiative in which communities participate in the identification of shelter-related problems in their areas to reduce the impact of disasters.
