CHAKWERA UNDERTAKES SECOND LEG OF VISITS TO CYCLONE FREDDY CAMPS

His Excellency the President of the Republic of Malawi, Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera on Thursday embarked on the second leg of his tour of the people and areas affected by Cyclone Freddy in the Southern Region of the country.

In this visit, which is mainly by plane, the President is visiting areas not reachable by land because the roads leading to those areas have been cut off.

On Thursday, President Chakwera visited the areas of Nsanje, Bangula and Makhanga, where among other things he assured the people who are in camps that government will do everything possible to provide them with necessary assistance.

Addressing the people at Kalemba Primary School camp – Bangula, where there are more than 6000 families, President Chakwera thanked all well-wishers who have rendered help, including the British government whose officials, led by the British High Commissioner to Malawi, presented a gift of rescue boats that will provide rescue services and transport aid.

Since Chakwera’s appeal to the international community, after declaring the southern part of Malawi a state of disaster, foreign governments have been pouring in to help with rescue missions, providing food, shelter and other technical support to his administration.

The President is in the southern region for unforeseeable number of days to continue on these visits and lead government’s efforts in reaching out to the people and the areas affected by Cyclone Freddy.

Cyclone Freddy, described as the deadliest in the past decade, and one of the longest storms to have hit the southern part of Africa, first struck in late February in Madagascar and Mozambique, before retreating to the Indian Ocean, only to draw more power from the waters and returning to mainland Africa and into Malawi, where in six days, it dumped rainfall equivalent to that of six months.

Although the rains have eased, it has left over half a million people destitute, with houses demolished, goods washed away, crops destroyed, and over 500 people dead, while 533 are missing and 1332 nursing injuries according or recent figures