Diffusing chaos for flood affected populations

Chaotic scenes were imminent when 1,211 households from Malawi and Mozambique converged at Bangula Admarc premises, in Nsanje, where a camp was set up for people who had been forced out of their homes by the 2019 floods, which were worsened by Cyclone Idai.

With 878 Malawian households on one side, and 335 households from Mozambique on the other, fights over non-existent resources at the camp ensued, as they often queued for possible handouts. The situation was alleviated when certain aid organizations were finally able to provide emergency relief supplies and support.

UNICEF Malawi, with support from China Aid, provided water treatment chemicals, as well as soap for handwashing and for laundry use. They also provided the flood-affected population with temporary mobile latrines, cholera treatment centres and temporary bath shelters using rolls of plastic sheeting and tarpaulins.

China Aid and UNICEF to the rescue

A senior Health Surveillance Assistant (HSA) from Kalemba Community Health Centre in Bangula, Bramu Makawi, said the assistance was very helpful and life at the camp instantly improved.

"These supplies also helped our work because with the mosquito nets, incidents of malaria drastically reduced," he said.

Makawi also observed that initially there were no provisions for water at the camp, but following the instalment of water pipes from other UNICEF partners such as GOAL Malawi, people were guaranteed safe drinking water.

Makawi, who became an HSA to save lives and help the sick, said the floods affected his work as he had relocated to the camp.

Emmanuel White, Chairperson of Kaleso Village Civil Protection Committee (VCPC), remembered that people would walk long distances to fetch water, which was a risk because their household items would be left unattended, as there was no shelter.

The Committee, which warns those that live close to water bodies or flood prone areas, also prepares them on how to deal with strong winds, fall armyworm, cholera and drought.

"We establish forecasts for any pending disaster in any passing year and we warn people in that regard," he said, however, acknowledging that while some people take heed of the warnings, others do not, and suffer the consequences when disasters such as floods strike.

"The floods brought misery. People lost their homes and property and almost lost lives. There were no fatalities but we had several injuries," said White.

People arrived at the camp with the bare minimum, White reminisced; a few solid items that others managed to rescue were not enough to cater for the whole population at the camp.

Danger posed by lack of toilets

Makawi agreed that the situation was dire; people were left homeless. When they reported to the camp in January, 2019, the camp had no toilets.

"When I observed this, I quickly reported the matter to Traditional Authority Mbenje, who acted with speed by instructing that inmates from Nsanje Prison be used to dig 15 temporary latrines using locally available materials," explained Makawi, whose tasks as an HSA also include sanitation, water source protection and treatment, disease surveillance, health and nutrition talks and supervising village health and water committees.

Makawi noted that the health scare of waterborne diseases that they feared would break out was palpable. "With UNICEF's assistance with mobile toilets it meant cholera or any outbreak had been stopped in its tracks," said Makawi.

Following the aid assistance, the camp not only had plenty of toilets, but each of them was provided with soap and handwashing facilities.

"Bathing spaces were also provided and these really helped a lot because before, people had problems taking a bath as they could only do so at night," said White.

Starting life afresh

When time to leave the camp came, White said those that received relief items and managed to reserve some of them had a good starting point for life after the camp. They were able to replace one item received with one that had been taken away by the floods.

Makawi observed that the majority of assistance that the displaced populations received mainly focused on post recovery.

"The least quantified benefit is knowledge gained in terms of behavioural change," he discerned, "some people sold their relief items but most did not, and instead took them back home."

Before the camp experience, most households had no notion on how to construct a toilet, but upon returning to their respective homes, each household constructed a toilet.