The United Nations’ office for the coordination of the Humanitarian Affairs on Friday said in a statement that devastation in Southeastern Africa continues to rise as Tropical Cyclone Freedy has affected over 500,000 people. According to the reports, the OCHA said that the cyclone has killed at least 400 people and more than 180,00 are displaced. As the flood water begins to subside, government is expanding and focusing on reaching displaced people for the relief efforts.
The United Nations has warned that the figure is expected to rise in the coming time. “The record-breaking weather system hit Malawi at the end of the rainy season when rivers and water bodies were already at high levels,” OCHA said.
According to Paul Turnbull, country director for the World Food Programme (WFP), the country “will need major support”. The mobility of evaluation and humanitarian teams as well as life-saving supplies was hampered by the inaccessibility of several places, the official said. In a statement, he continued, “We are ramping up as swiftly as we can under the circumstances,” promising to help the roughly 130,000 people affected by the tough situation.
Chikwawa, a town in Malawi is the most affected area with the highest number of displaced people. The efforts for the distribution of cereals and a blend of soy and corn are underway in all the displacement sites with the supervision under World Food Programme. However, some of the areas remain cut off due to the extremely challenging conditions on the ground. To transfer supplies and for search and rescue operations in places that can’t be reached by road, aid workers are mobilising aircraft and boats.
The United Nations has assured that their team is present in each and every affected area and working closely with the authorities to provide the aid to over 49,000 people displaces and isolated by floods. They also stated that the risk of cholera is also increasing, as there are not enough water disinfection supplies to support containment activities to control the outbreak.
The OCHA also added that “Humanitarian partners are concerned by the risk of cholera spreading in flood-affected areas, especially in crowded displacement sites. UNICEF and its partners are working to clean latrines in schools serving as shelters in Blantyre and will also install water storage bladders to provide safe drinking water. In Mozambique, the number of affected people by Freddy’s second landfall also continues to rise, reaching 340,000. In total with the cumulative impact of the floods and the two landfalls, more than 510,000 people have been affected across the country.”
Adding further to the note, they said “Yesterday’s allocation of USD 10 million by the Central Emergency Response Fund will help address some of the gaps in the response to cholera, floods and cyclone Freddy. However, more funding is urgently needed to contain the cholera outbreak and to sustain relief operations. Humanitarian partners are finalizing a flash appeal – as an addition to this year’s overall appeal – to address the most urgent humanitarian needs resulting from the convergence of Freddy, floods and cholera.”
The Malawi Ministry of Natural Resources and Climate Change said the cyclone was “weakening but will continue to cause torrential rains associated with windy conditions in most parts of Southern Malawi districts”. “The threat of heavy flooding and damaging winds remains very high,” the weather report said.
Since Tropical Cyclone Freddy first made landfall in Africa in late February and returned to strike the area for a second time over the weekend, it has already claimed more than 400 lives in Malawi, Mozambique, and Madagascar. The storm is officially over, but Malawi’s ministry of natural resources and climate change warned that heavy rains are expected to continue in some locations and possibly create more flooding near lakeshore areas.
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