Cholera Threat, Hunger Stalk Malawians Fleeing Worst Floods : As flood waters submerge much of southern Malawi, villagers fleeing to makeshift displacement camps by boat, foot and helicopter are confronted by fresh adversities: thirst, hunger and the threat of disease. The government says at least 176 people have been killed and about 200,000 have been driven from their homes this month by Malawi’s worst floods on record. Japan, Canada and South Africa are among countries that have sent money or emergency teams. Some 370,000 people require urgent food and other relief assistance, the United Nations World Food Programme said Friday. Relief efforts in the southeast African nation have been hampered by incessant rain, a shortage of funds and a lack of roads and other infrastructure. Malawi is ranked 174th of 187 countries in the latest United Nations Development Program human development index, lower than Haiti and Afghanistan. “We only received a basin of flour to feed 75 people,” Agnes Kamiza, 31, a mother of five, said in a Jan. 21 interview in a camp at Tidzora, 80 kilometers (50 miles) west of the commercial capital, Blantyre. Kamiza made her way there after her home in the southern Chikwawa district was swamped. “If we don’t receive more flour, that will mean that that is our only meal for the day.” More than 550 people have taken shelter at Tidzora, and their ranks are swelling. The first to arrive shared a small, tick-infested warehouse, sleeping on sacks or on the floor. Story continued:
Posted on: Sun, 25 Jan 2015 12:00:38 +0000
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