Devastation caused by storms and floods
* Machinga District is affected every year by disasters such as floods, dry spells, strong winds, cholera, and crop pests
* The January 2022 flood disaster affected about 9,362 households as evidenced by the disaster assessments that were conducted
By Martin Chiwanda, MANA
Disaster contingency plan is crucial in the management of disasters as it helps to prepare how to respond for any eventualities.
This was said by Machinga District Commissioner, Rosemary Nawasha on Wednesday during a disaster contingency plan review workshop, currently operationalised in Zomba.
Nawasha emphasized that a disaster contingency plan analyzes the impact of potential disasters and ensure that adequate and appropriate arrangements are made in advance to respond timely and appropriately to the needs of affected populations.
“Effort should be made to finalize the contingency plan during the review workshop and clusters should ensure that they have collected all the required data before they start holding review workshops” she said.
Rosemary Nawasha
“Machinga District is affected every year by disasters such as floods, dry spells, strong winds, cholera, and crop pests. The January 2022 flood disaster affected about 9,362 households as evidenced by the disaster assessments that were conducted.
“There was a lot of damage and losses on people’s livelihoods including one death. Machinga suffered losses and damages affecting agriculture, water and sanitation, education, trade, just to mention a few.”
She thus asked district stakeholders and communities “to make use of the plan during or before disasters”, emphasizing that “it should not just gather dust in the shelves but rather help us, as DCPC members, to timely respond and assist affected populations within the required 24 hours of responding to a disaster”.
“Let me appeal to all sectors to have a disaster risk management eye during our programming of interventions.”
Advertisement
The DC urged those reviewing the disaster contingency plan to make realistic assumptions and budgets and involve communities and civil protection committees in all the processes including dissemination of the plan to enhance ownership and smooth implementation on the ground.
She applauded Malawi Resilience Disaster Risk Management Programme for the financial support towards the review of the 2022-2023 contingency plans.
In his remarks, Machinga Relief and Rehabilitation Officer, Daniel Mandala said the contingency plan was a benchmark for effective management of disaster preparedness activities and response hence the need to review it in good time.
“It is right that every year, we review the plans in accordance with the year’s weather seasonal forecast,” he said. “These assist in preparing for disasters and management of disasters when they occur.
“Machinga District is on the right track as this is the right time to review the plan so that it reflects the potential disaster occurrences.”
