By Augustus Nkhwazi

Mzuzu, March 14, Mana: The Malawi Red Cross on Thursday trained five Ward Civil Protection Committees on development of electronic contingency plans in Mzuzu to enhance community-based disaster preparedness.

Speaking during the training, Director of Planning and Development (DPD) at Mzuzu City Council, Philimon Maseko, commended Malawi Red Cross for the training which he said had come at the right time considering that times are changing technologically.

He said this innovation will help speedy communication among those involved in disaster risk management.

Maseko added that it will be easier for disaster committees to communicate at ease and speed with stakeholders in times of disasters.

“The Council is usually faced with inadequate resources to undertake such tasks as such when partners like Red Cross and Habitat for Humanities among others come in to support, it is worthy commending them,” he said.

He then urged the committees to raise awareness in the communities on how to assess disaster risks and develop mechanisms to avert the same.

The DPD said good drainage systems can help communities prevent accumulation of waste that may result in spread of diseases such as cholera, hence urging the committee members to facilitate this practice.

On her part, Project Coordinator for Disaster Risk Management at Malawi Red Cross, Cecilia Banda said working with disaster committees help communities plan and prepare for disasters.

She said previously, such committees were using papers to develop contingency plans which was rather proving to be slow in terms of their communication.

Banda said by using the new technology where the committees will be developing electronic contingency plans and use smartphones to transmit, it will enhance their communication capacity.

She added that disaster risk management committees help communities to understand their risks based on their geographical positions.

"We have provided them with this training in addition to giving them smartphones which will help not only in communication but also data storage", she said.

She added that Mzuzu City has its own communication channel for disasters, allowing everyone on the channel to access information about disasters as soon as they occur through the innovation.

Added Banda: "Electronic contingency plans will complement the plans that were already developed but in paper form."

The Malawi Red Cross runs the disaster risk management preparedness in Mzuzu and Zomba cities. The project started in January 2024 and will run through December 2025 at the cost of K98 million.

The training brought together Chiputula, Katawa, Chibavi East, Msongwe and Mzirawaingwe Wards, community volunteers, council officials and other stakeholders in disaster management