Officials from the department of Disaster Management Affairs (DoDMA) say Malawi needs K68 billion to carry out its four-month disaster response plan to recover damages caused by Cyclone Ana.
This is contained in a disaster response plan released by the department.
The plan says the department needs K72.7 billion to successfully implement its response strategy.
Currently, the nation has a funding gap of K68.9 billion, according to the report.
Tropical storm Ana which originated from the Indian Ocean made landfall on the Mozambique coast around midday of Monday 24th January 2022 and later headed for southern Malawi hitting the country on the early hours of 25th January 2022.
The storm triggered torrential rains accompanied by strong winds over most areas of the country which led to severe flooding across all districts in the Southern Region and some districts in the Central Region.
According to DODMA disaster response report, over 995 thousand people have been affected by cyclone Ana with Chikwawa district recording the highest number of those displaced.
It adds that 190,000 people were displaced, 46 died, 18 went missing and 206 sustained injuries.
“The Tropical Storm Ana has impacted almost on all sectors with following sectors experiencing significant damage: Agriculture and Food Security, Transport, Energy, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, Education and Health sectors,” reads part of the report.
DODMA has also raised concerns on worsening incidences of gender-based violence and violence against women and girls which is likely to be aggravated by the dire food and sanitary conditions in the camps housing flood victims.
One of the affected sectors is agriculture with over 70,000 hectares of the cropped area belonging to 91,016 households severely affected, as well as 36,803 livestock either killed or injured by the floods.
The government will therefore require over K1.78 billion to address damages in the sector while food security requires over K17 billion Kwacha.
An agriculture expert Tamani Nkhono has since called on authorities to assist farmers with inputs for winter cropping to help cover up for the losses incurred.
“Going forward there is need for the nation to have a strong contingency plan for disasters like these, because for instance in the lower shire almost every year we face these challenges.
“There is a need to ensure people are aware of the challenges they may face if they continue to reside in such areas,” Nkhono said
Meanwhile, Chipiliro Khamula, spokesperson for DoDMA said the response plan will be implemented by the government through Humanitarian clusters with the district council’s leadership.