Malawi Floods Situation Report 22-28 Feb 2001

General situation
The flooding in Malawi this year came as a result of heavy downpour with unique intensity. The annual occurrence at this time of year usually affects only few communities in two districts in the Lower Shire River and one or tow lake show districts in the Central and Northern Regions of Malawi. Figures released last week by Government of the population affected by the floods show that this year’s floods have been far more serious and devastating than that of February 1997 when floods affected only the Lower Shire Valley with only the two districts of Chikwawa and Nsanje needing support. This year’s floods are affecting many areas throughout the country and so far thirteen districts have experienced flooding.

The Department of Meteorology in Malawi has reported that the inter-tropical convergence zone (ITCZ), which brings most of the rains, is positioned over Southern Malawi. During the past few days it has been oscillating between Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Malawi. The first 15 days of March are critical for Southern Malawi as it is the last peak period before the ITCZ migrates northward. After the 15th of March, rainfall usually picks up over Central and Northern Malawi. Therefore high rainfall period over Malawi is not yet over. Chances of further flooding from heavy rainfall are still high for most low-lying areas of Malawi.

Country-level and international response

The Malawi Government declared the recent situation a national disaster and issued an international appeal for assistance for the initial requirements of 62,506 households amounting to $1.53 million to support basic needs like food, temporary shelter, blankets and utensils and distribution costs. Subsequent to the appeal for relief assistance that was made on Friday 23rd February 2001 the Government has allocated MK37,000,000 (US$462,000) to meet the immediate needs of the flood victims throughout the country, including the cost of repairing road infrastructure to open up access to affected areas.

Following the declaration of a national disaster by the Head of State last week, the Resident Coordinator alerted the donor community based in Malawi about the need for emergency relief and requested the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Geneva to issue an international appeal based on the initial assessment by Government. A follow up meeting with resident donors was held on 28th February 2001 to get initial indications of assistance from the donors. A meeting of donors and the Vice President has been scheduled for Tuesday 6th March 2001 when donors are expected to indicate their pledges if not made by then yet.

WFP plans to launch an Immediate Response Action starting second week of March when the Government relief items would have run out. WFP will borrow maize, pulses and children supplementary food (Likuni phala) from the existing in-country stocks of the Food for Asset project and/or the Assistance to Malnourished Group project in order that the distribution starts immediately when Government stocks are depleted. WFP is also designing an Emergency Operation (EMOP) that will provide food aid to the victims as they struggle to rebuild their homes and lives after the water has receded. The EMOP will run from 1st April to 30th June.

FAO and WFP will, under emergency technical cooperation projects, support flood victims who have lost their crops with seeds, cuttings and small implements so that they can plant a winter crop.

The OCHA has allocated an Emergency Grant of US $30,000 for local purchase of blankets, plastic sheeting and iodised salt to assist the affected population. In addition, the Government of Norway has provided, through OCHA, an emergency grant of US$30,000 towards the local purchase of additional blankets, plastic sheeting and iodised salt.

A team of health experts led by the Ministry of Health & Population and WHO, is reviewing and assessing the health situation of the affected populations. In the meantime, WHO has requested its headquarters for medicine.

UNICEF is making an assessment of estimated number of women and under-five children affected by the floods with a view to determine UNICEF’s response. Currently, UNICEF estimates that a total of over 37,000 children under 5 may be affected in the four most affected districts of Nsanje, Chikwawa, Salima and Nkhotakota.

UNDP has requested for an allocation of disaster relief resources from New York for meeting some of the logistics support of the flood disaster operations such as: communication, distribution costs of relief items and monitoring and evaluation of the disaster situation.

UNHCR has initiated consultations on relief assistance for the displaced people with its Regional Office in Nairobi while UNV Bonn has also indicated its own contribution to the disaster. A team of UN Heads of Agencies in Malawi are also scheduled to visit the affected districts to monitor the situation once all relief measures are in place.

Significant Events

Two WFP assessment teams have returned from 4 of the most affected districts – Nsanje, Chikwawa, Salima and Nkhotakota. Their report shows that 55,859 households - about 279,295 people, (compared to the total of 62,506 households in the 13 districts reported by Government last week) in these 4 districts have been affected by the floods in one way or the other and need both food aid and non-food items, particularly plastic sheet for shelter, medicines and potable water.

The situation is more serious in Nsanje and Chikwawa districts where the waters of the Shire River and its tributaries burst their banks and caused more havoc to the houses and crops. Numbers of people who lost their lives are being assessed and once confirmed will be released.

Southern Region

During the past week the Southern Region received less rains and a bit more sunshine than during the preceding week, this enabled more of the affected population to head for higher and dryer ground. In doing so, they only managed to take little food items like maize flour, dry fish, enough to sustain them 3 to 5 days only. It is therefore not difficult to imagine the vulnerability of the victims of the floods to food insecurity and access to clean water. The number of the victims staying in public buildings has risen to 6000 compared to 5000 in the previous report. These are more vulnerable to food insecurity and spread of diseases because of their numbers and the fact that these public buildings do not have adequate sanitation facilities like toilets and portable water. Where affected people have sought refuge with relatives, 3-5 families live in one house. This also puts pressure on the limited resources of host families especially at a time the families are going through the lean period (January to May).

Inhabitants of 9 villages along the Mozambican/Malawi border have sought refuge in the Mutarara district of Mozambique. Some Mozambicans have also moved into Bangula and Nsanje Boma. District authorities are still to register these people.

WFP’s two missions to the Southern Region came back impressed with the Government’s food aid distribution efforts. It is, however clear that the Government’s relief efforts will not last much longer, particularly as the number of people affected grows by the day as places cut-off by the floods become more and more accessible to assessment teams.

The two WFP missions that visited Nsanje District indicated that the number of affected villages in the 5 EPAs (Extension Planning Areas) so far visited has increased from 107 to 277 and that the number of households affected is 22,454 (about 112,270 people) compared to the Government figure of 25,000 reported in the 1st Situation Report. The issue of estimating the number of affected households has been compounded by problems of displacement and mobility in and out of the flood affected areas.

Some of the damage seen by WFP teams includes the loss of crops (4517 hectares), loss of shelter (22,454 households, and the washing away of roads and bridges. The District authorities list their immediate needs as follows: shelter, food, medicines, water purification equipment/potable water, and seeds. District agricultural officials gave the following estimates for seed needs: 86.5 metric tonnes of maize, 7 metric tonnes of beans, and 7 metric tonnes of sweet potato planting materials.

Information from 4 EPAs in Chikwawa District collected by WFP from District Assembly officials, the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation officials, local leaders, people directly affected, NGOs and by the WFP teams show that 107 villages were hit by the floods, 1507 dwellings collapsed, 13,175 households were affected and a total of 3,994 hectares of crops were affected.

Central Region

The latest figures provided by the Salima District task force for floods, and NGOs working in the district indicate a significant increase in the numbers of affected population. This was due to the rain that fell during the week. The total number of households affected now stands at 5,102 - about 25,510 people compared to households reported last week. Like in the Southern Region, flooding was as a result of rivers bursting their banks and excessive run-off from the hills. Houses were damaged and 2800 hectares of crops (maize, rice, cotton, groundnuts) were affected. Priority needs in Salima are food, shelter, medicine, potable water and seeds.

In Nkhotakota district, which was affected by water logging rather than rivers bursting their banks, the latest figures from the two affected EPAs showed a total of 15,128 households compared to 15,450 households reported in last week’s report. An estimated 2,847 hectares of crops have been damaged in 177 villages. Agriculture and district officials say the biggest need is for seeds for the winter cropping season, medicine and clean water. The estimated seed requirements are: 48 metric tonnes of maize and 5 metric tonnes of beans.

Targeted Population

Latest figures released by the Government show a total of 312,530 people affected in 62,506 households, in the 13 most affected districts. It is important to note that WFP has so far done assessments in only 4 of the most affected districts.

Data compiled by WFP missions to the most affected districts

Food Supply Situation

The general food situation will become worse as the Department of Disaster Preparedness, Rehabilitation and Relief resources are depleted in the coming 10 to 14 days. Immediate intervention will be needed in districts of Nsanje, Chikwawa and Salima. The food security situation is worse in the affected districts because the flood disaster happened during the lean or the pre-harvest season, a period when approximately 50% of Malawi’s rural population become vulnerable to food insecurity, and when some survive only on one meal a day.

Monitoring and Internal Management Aspects

Government and donors have started discussions with Malawi Red Cross Society (MRCS) and other NGOs on partnership arrangements for distributions and monitoring of relief items. The MRCS has the capacity for handling registration and verification of victims and distribution of relief goods. They have a good track record on these matters as evidenced by work they did during the 1997 lower Shire Valley flood disaster. They also have a cadre of volunteers that can be brought to assist as soon as their services are required. A number of other international and indigenous NGOs work in most of the flood affected districts. They could also help in relief distribution and monitoring the situation.

UNITED NATIONS
Office of the Resident Coordinator
MALAWI
P.O. BOX 30135, LILONGWE-3,
MALAWI

TEL: (265) 773 500,
FAX : (265) 773 637
Internert: registry.mw@undp.org