Director of Preparedness and Response from the Department of Disaster and Management Affairs (DoDMA), Moses Chimphepo has cautioned communities in Thyolo district against constructing houses in disaster prone areas.
Chimphepo said this when a delegation from DoDMA and Ministry of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare toured Thyolo to appreciate how the Climate Smart Public Works Program (CSPWP) and Social Cash Transfer Programme (SCTP) were progressing in the area of Traditional Authority Nsabwe.
“By avoiding constructing in disaster prone areas, we will also be saving financial resources that government spends in disaster response.
“Normally, the Department of Climate Change and Metrological Services releases information occurrences such as floods and droughts and they inform department of disaster which further releases the information to the public to relocate to safe areas., “said Chimphepo
He observed that some people opt to disregard such weather information saying there was need for communities to make use of weather information all the time.
On the SCTP and the CSPWP, Chimphepo said households will be able to recover from the effects of Tropical Cyclone Freddy in Thyolo where 7,663 households are expected to benefit from the two programs.
“Each beneficiary has received K150,000 for three months to buy maize and other households necessities during the rainy season which is the most difficult time when most households lack food,” he added.
In his remarks, District Commissioner for Thyolo, Hudson Kuphanga applauded the two social interventions saying they were key in saving lives of people that could be lost due to hunger.
Kuphanga also appealed to government to revise the Universal Beneficiary Registry (UBR), saying many households from Traditional Authorities Thomas and Mpenda were not included, thereby denying them opportunities to benefit from most social protection programmes.
“Some villages were left out during the documentation of UBR and these are the same people that are not appearing on SCTP and CSPWP beneficiary list,
“Furthermore, the National IDs of many people were destroyed during Tropical Cyclone Freddy and this also cause some challenges when they want to cash,” he said.
One of the beneficiaries, Marita Masamba a mother of four children from Ndaona Village in Traditional Authority Nsabwe commended SCTP saying her household was able to buy fertilizer, food and also constructing good house.
Masamba advised fellow beneficiaries to use the funds prudently saying this would help them to improve their household income.
Government of Malawi with funding from the World Bank and UNICEF is giving K150,000 to beneficiaries and participants of SCTP and CSPWP who were affected by the Tropical Cyclone Freddy to help them recover from its effects.
