Water and Sanitation Minister Urges Communities to Relocate to Avoid Future Floods

Malawi - Water and Sanitation Minister Abida Sidik Mia has urged communities still resisting relocation to flood-prone areas to relocate to higher lands to avoid being affected by floods in the future, writes Cornelius Lupenga.

Mia, who is also the Member of Parliament for Chikwawa Nkombezi, made the statement on Monday at Ngabu Sports Ground, where the Muslim World League-MWL distributed maize flour to over 3,000 displaced people in Chikwawa.

"The time has come for people to adhere to the call of relocating to safer areas so that we can prevent further being affected by floods in the future," Mia said.

She also thanked the Muslim World League-MWL for their assistance, noting that the support received from the Department of Disaster Management Affairs-DoDMA is not enough.

Regional Project Manager for Malawi World League for Southern Africa, Dr. Williams Suleman, said his office is in the area to reach out to 15,000 families affected by the cyclone.

"This is not our first time assisting people during disasters such as those affected by the cyclone," he said.

Country Representative for the MWL, Shakira Jussab, reiterated the organization's commitment to reaching out to affected people, saying they are targeting about 1,500 people at Ngabu Sports Ground.

"We are committed to seeing that the affected people are reached out," Jussab said.

The MWL's assistance comes after severe floods caused by Cyclone Eloise left thousands of people displaced in Malawi.