The death toll from Cyclone Freddy that hit southern Malawi on 12 March continues to climb. As of Monday, it reached 447 and almost 300 people are still missing. Almost 350,000 people have been displaced. The Jesuit Centre for Ecology and Development is calling for support and disaster prevention.
The death toll continues to rise from the landslides and flooding caused by Cyclone Freddy that slammed into southern Africa last week, killing hundreds of people, destroying homes and lands, and displacing hundreds of thousands.
In the hardest-hit nation, Malawi, entire villages have been washed away and communities are sheltering in schools and camps. Humanitarian agencies, including Church run-organizations, are on the ground bringing relief to people who have lost everything.
Martha Phiri is the Policy Researcher and Advocacy Officer for the Jesuit Centre for Ecology and Development based in Malawi’s capital city, Lilongwe, embarked on a solidarity visit undertaken by her team in collaboration with Caritas Malawi to assess the peoples’ most urgent needs and to provide emergency aid.
She also spoke about how psychological support is needed for the traumatized population and called for better disaster preparedness and prevention on the part of authorities.
The work of the Jesuit-run JCED, Martha explained, is engaged in resilience building, adaptation and climate justice advocacy, targeting those most affected and vulnerable in rural and marginalized communities.
“What inspired our work is what our Pope Francis invites us to do: to hear the cry of the poor and the cry of the earth. And not just hearing, but to take action,” she said.
And referring to Pope Francis who expressed his grief for the victims of the natural disaster and his closeness to all those affected by the cyclone during his General Audience last Wednesday, Martha said his words were conveyed to the people of Malawi, mainly through the churches.
The Pope’s words are important, she said, and “to see the Pope being with us, journeying with us, and trying to give hope to us, is very comforting.”
The destruction caused by the cyclone in Malawi
Martha spoke of how the solidarity visits she just undertook to the southern, most affected parts of the country, took the team along disrupted roads, following the paths of mudslides that led to destroyed homesteads, to be with thousands of people gathered in “evacuation camps.”
“The situation on the ground is very, very bad: we have chaos in Malawi. We have so many evacuation centres and temporary camps with a huge number of displaced people.”
Many evacuation centres, she noted, are in schools, and that means that schools are closed.
The team made up of JCED and Caritas Malawi members was also joined by some of the Catholic bishops from the areas affected by the cyclone in a sign of solidarity and closeness.
During their visit, they were able to provide food and other items like clothes, shoes, blankets and buckets.
“These people are without hope. Everything is wiped out. They have lost everything and they arrive in the evacuation centres with nothing,” she said.
“There is a need for more support.”
Apart from the lack of necessities, what struck Martha the most was the desperation of those left with nothing.
“In the camps, it’s a very sad situation. When I was there, I saw children crying hopelessly, not knowing where their parents are, not having been told their parents are no more,” she said.
We need to understand, she continued, how best to journey with these people taking into consideration not only their material needs but also “helping them to heal because they have been traumatized.”
Although Malawi is not new to natural disasters caused by climate change, Martha said no one expected a big city like Blantyre to suffer so much devastation and damage.
“These people need to heal also from a psychological point of view.”
Aside from that, Martha concluded, it is a lesson because the state needs to ramp up disaster prevention and preparedness in a country where the poor are paying the highest price of climate change.
“We have to make sure that we are aware of what is happening,” she said, “As a country, I think we can do better in terms of disaster preparedness” to make sure such tragedies are avoided in the future.
“Even though it is a natural disaster, maybe the impact wouldn’t have been as huge as this,” she said.
Meanwhile, new reports suggest that families and children displaced by Cyclone Freddy in Malawi face the risk of an unprecedented cholera outbreak with a lack of running water, sanitation facilities and open defecation in camps fueling fears of waterborne diseases.
The country was already facing its worst cholera outbreak on record before Cyclone Freddy hit, with 17 people dying in the past seven days alone, bringing the total number of fatalities since March 2022 to about 1,660.
Emergency Health Units with specialised doctors and nurses on ground to assist in the cholera outbreak are now occupied with treating people injured by falling trees, landslides and floods after Cyclone Freddy’s second landfall.
Local media reports that the situation remains difficult as several rivers have broken their banks and torrential rains continue to pound affected districts while blocked roads hamper search and rescue efforts.
Over 183,000 people, more than half of them children, have fled their homes due to storm and flood damage, leaving them without food and a feeling of safety.
