By Aliko Munde

Chitipa, July 1, Mana: Chitipa District Council has conceded that due to human activities along river banks in the district, it has contributed a lot to disasters especially floods that occurs in Karonga.

Director of Planning and Development (DPD) for Chitipa District Council, Jossen Tembo said that most people cultivate along River banks which results in running of surface water downstream up to Karonga, resulting into floods.

He was speaking on Monday to Karonga District Disaster Risk Management Committee (DRMC) which visited the council on a learning visit to enhance collaboration between the two districts.

Tembo said that human activities which are mostly environmentally unfriendly have done more harm than good to the two districts and even to the country.

“As a district, we have a hand to reduce severity and impact of the disasters by intensifying awareness campaigns on the dangers of cultivating along the river banks for the safety of our friends in Karonga,” he said.

District Risk Disaster Management Officer for Karonga, Humphrey Magalasi said the objective of the learning visit was to learn and share experiences in risk and disaster management.

He echoed that floods in Karonga originate from rivers in Chitipa hence the visit to exchange notes on how best the two parties can coordinate in addressing the risk of flooding.

“As one way of strengthening local structures we intend to revamp Village and Area Risk Disaster Management Committees,” Tembo suggested.