NWRA sounds an SOS for communities in Mangochi

Mangochi, September 11, Mana: National Water Resources Authority (NWRA) has appealed to communities that were affected by the rising levels of Lake Malawi and Shire River in Mangochi to relocate to safer places as it is anticipated that water in the two water bodies will rise more in the coming hydrological year.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for the Water Resources Authority, Engineer, Dr. Dwight Kambuku appealed on Tuesday for a tour of editors and media managers from media houses in the southern region to appreciate the water situation in Mangochi that displaced many families from their houses following rising water levels in the Lake Malawi and Shire River this year.

He expressed concern over some residents in Mangochi who have relocated back in flood-prone areas, describing the relocation as a disaster in waiting.

“The Department of Climate Change and Metrological Services has predicted that the country will receive more rainfall because of La Nina this year. We expect to receive 475.22 millimetres of water above sea level in Lake Malawi, which is 22 centimetres higher than that of last year, and the situation will be worse,

“As such we encourage residents to relocate to safer places because if they hesitate, we should expect the same bad scenario as it was the case in last hydrological year,” said the NRWA CEO.

Kambuku therefore called on the media to come in with stories and radio and TV programmes that should raise community awareness on the impending scenario of rising water levels in Lake Malawi and Shire River.

In his remarks, CEO for Mangochi Municipal Council, Ernest Kazokoya said that the situation in the flood-prone areas of Lake Malawi and Shire River remains bad though some people were settling back.

“The situation along most Lakeshore areas is still bad as water levels remain high. It is just unfortunate that some people are still moving back to such low-lying areas,” he added.

Kazokoya therefore asked all those who would like to construct houses to consult the council for better places to build houses.

“As a council, we still have more other better places for staying,” he said after taking editors and reporters to places where people constructed houses that are still waterlogged due to rising levels of the Shire River.

The rising levels of waters both in Lake Malawi and Shire River left 810 households homeless in Mangochi as their houses submerged into the water.

Currently, closer to 20 households are still residing at a camp.

Malawi Editors Forum, Secretary General Gracian Tukula said was grateful to NRWA for supporting editors and media managers' tour of Mangochi, saying this allowed the team to appreciate the damage that was caused by the rising water level in Lake Malawi and Shire River.

He said editors need to be on top of things for effective behaviour change communication that should come from news stories and radio and TV programmes to trigger positive practices, citing relocation of people from flood-prone areas to safer locations.