By Kondwani Magombo

Lilongwe, February 27, Mana: High up in the mountain of Chinamwali in Zomba, a smoke is spotted billowing into the sky. The first thought one has is that some fanatic of environmental degradation is in the process of making charcoal.

But casting one’s eyes wider and beyond, one is hit hard by shocking realization: some residents have built houses up the mountain to heights that leave them prone to disaster.

Among these residents is 66-year-old Dickson Kadwala, married, with 6 children.

To get to Kadwala’s house, which is made from unburnt bricks and mud, one does not only need to be athletic, but they should also possess the determination of a mountain hiker.

A range of houses line up in a terrace-like fashion, one “above” the other.

When one finally reaches Kadwala’s house, panting and exhausted, the panorama of Chinamwali residential location and the surrounding areas below compensates the hassle — but, perhaps, not enough to justify Kadwala's decision to build there.

The risky actions of the likes of Kadwala up the slopes of Chinamwali Mountain does not sit well with Disaster Risk Management Committee (DRMC) for Chinamwali Ward and, as a result, the committee has sprung to action.

“We find these actions very unacceptable, with what Tropical Cyclone Freddy taught us, as a nation, in March last year,” explains the ward's DRMC chair Andreck Tito. “So we’ve embarked on a door-to-door sensitization, urging those people in such disaster-prone areas to move to safer grounds.”

According to Tito, his committee is making headway and most of the disaster-prone residents are ready to relocate. The challenge, however, is that they don’t know where to relocate to, let alone how to make it there.

Sitting comfortably at the verandah of his house, Kadwala looks less disturbed by the danger that looms around him.

Just a few feet below Kadwala's house, his neighbour, a youthful man probably in his early 30s, is busy rebuilding a wall of his house that might have collapsed a couple of days before.

Kadwala concedes that his life, and that of his wife and children are at risk, with those huge rocks surrounding his house on the slopes of the mountain. But, according to the father of 6, this place is all that he and his family have, and they have nowhere to go.

“I’ve had enough warnings from these people,” he gestures at the DRMC members, “And I've always agreed that this place is prone to disaster. But I do not have anywhere to go.

“If I can be assisted with the relocation process, such as acquiring land and all the necessary logistics, including transport and construction of a house at the new place, I'm ready to move even tomorrow,” adds Kadwala, who claims to have bought the risky land from one of the chiefs in the area.

The scramble for land on the slopes of Chinamwali mountains was done behind the back of the authorities, according to Councilor Munira Abdullah Bakali, Vice Mayor for Zomba City.

As such, the chiefs and their subjects living on the slopes of the Chinamwali mountains are residing in an area that is not just unplanned, but not recognized by the city council.

However, the city's authorities have not taken the matter with arms folded: the establishment of the DRMC to conduct sensitization meetings with the chiefs and the residents to relocate is just one of the approaches that the city authorities have employed.

As the residents like Kadwala are looking up to city authorities to facilitate the relocation process, Zomba City's major challenge is that it has no adequate land, despite the city's fast growth.

“The city does not have land,” explains Clr. Bakali via a questionnaire. “Besides, these are residents that have their home villages and most of them came in to venture into business.

“These families have also been considered to be beneficiaries of the cash transfers to help them build their capitals to enable them boost their business and be able to relocate.”

Zomba continues to grow fast with a lot of people coming in to search for job opportunities, or venture into small businesses.

The authorities admit that the fast growth of the city has led to housing problems, unemployment, development of slums, water and sanitation problems, poor health and spread of diseases.

According to the Vice Mayor, up to 60 percent of Zomba City is unplanned and this leaves the control and management of most of the city's land into the hands of chiefs.

Consequently, the urban poor like Kadwala are driven to such living conditions due to the city's poor functioning land and housing markets, as well as lack of planning for urban development and growth.

The authorities in Zomba believe that the existing housing problem could be solved by extending the boundaries of the city; increasing staff under District Risk Management; and increasing funding allocation for the city.

The Department of Disaster Management Affairs (DoDMA) describes Zomba City's approach of engaging residents in disaster prone areas through DRMC as “a path in the right direction” where reducing disaster risks is concerned.

DoDMA’s spokesperson Chipiliro Khamula says the efforts of Chinamwali Ward DRMC are worth emulating across the country to reduce disaster risks among the citizenry.

“Engaging communities on the dangers of living in disaster prone areas is in line with our efforts aimed at relocating communities (living in disaster prone areas) to safer places,” explains Khamula.

According to Khamula, currently, DoDMA has relocated over 3,600 households in Makhanga area, Traditional Authority (T/A) Mlolo, Nsanje, to safer places within the same T/A.

But, perhaps, as they await authorities-facilitated relocation, residents like Kadwala, who managed to acquire land in disaster prone areas and constructed houses, ought to reflect on their individual responsibility on their own safety — a point the Vice Mayor also raises in the questionnaire.

“City has done a lot in educating its residents on issues of disaster risk knowledge,” she says, and adds, “It’s time that residents take ownership of their [own] safety.”