Malawi struggles with floods

Flooding in Malawi has affected nearly 923,000 people causing them to leave their homes and lose possessions, according to the government data.

Malawi’s Department of Disaster Management Affairs reports 230,000 damaged homes and 45 deaths. Apart from destroying crops and property, the unprecedented heavy rains affected electricity generation causing blackouts. Some roads and bridges were washed away, cutting off road access to some areas.

Over the weekend, a powerful tropical cyclone, IDAI swept through southern areas of Malawi and Mozambique. Now, it is approaching Zimbabwe. The media reports that at least 80,000 people have been displaced in Mozambique and dozens of people killed.

Emergency shelter and sanitation are in urgent demand. Displaced families are reported to have no or only very limited access to clean drinking water and no proper sanitation facilities. Habitat for Humanity Malawi will initially distribute 600 Emergency Shelter Kits to the families affected by floods. It plans to hand out at least 2,000 kits. These consist of tarpaulins, tarpaulin ropes, buckets for water collection, solar lights and hygiene products. 

Funding needs

Habitat for Humanity Malawi is assessing the situation to develop an appropriate response. Based on preliminary assessments, Habitat for Humanity Malawi needs 118,000 USD to distribute additional 2,000 Emergency Shelter Kits. It is estimated that a longer-term community recovery program could cost around 600,000 USD or more, depending on the needs and scale.

If you want to support our recovery efforts in Malawi, please follow the donation link below. To designate your donation, please choose “Designate your donation” under “Optional details” towards the bottom of the page. Select Malawi from the drop down list of Habitat organizations by region and country.

Habitat for Humanity has been working in Malawi since 2009. In 2015, Habitat started a disaster risk reduction program in the south of the country in response to heavy floods. Houses built by Habitat for Humanity have not been damaged during the current floods.