Malawi: Government and partners embark on post disaster needs assessment
By Tikondane Vega
Blantyre - The office of Disaster Management Affairs in partnership with public and private sectors is scheduled to submit a post floods' disaster needs assessment report to government on the 20th of March this year.
Principal Secretary for Disaster Management Affairs, Paul Chiunguzeni disclosed this in Blantyre on Wednesday during the opening of a three-day training workshop on post disaster needs assessment and recovery methodology.
Chiunguzeni said the assessment would come up with losses the country has made due to floods.
“In view of the floods the country has been experiencing since January, government made a strategic decision to plan beyond emergency response and through my department requested support of the World Bank to conduct comprehensive post disaster needs assessment.
“The post assessment is also expected to bring detailed flood and community mapping and technical assistance to develop and carry out a recovery including reconstruction framework and disaster risk financing strategy,” said Chiunguzeni.
PS Chiunguzeni said the exercise aims at assessing the socio-economic impact of the floods and defining a strategy for recovery including its financial implications.
He said it would look into the restoration of services for the affected people to complete rehabilitation and reconstruction of infrastructure, livelihoods and economy while ensuring future flood resilience.
World Bank’s Disaster Risk Management Specialist Francis Samson Nkoka said the exercise would be done in 15 districts and that the bank was expecting a comprehensive assessment report.
Nkoka said the post assessment will be done with funding from World Bank, European Union (EU) and United Nations (UN).
“Jointly we have contributed 250,000 dollars for the whole exercise. The findings will help donor partners and other implementing agencies to see how the country’s lost economy caused by floods can be gained.
“All what we are looking is that the country’s economy should back to normal,” said Nkoka adding that the findings are likely to change some programs other partners are implementing to meet the needs of the affected communities.
Sixty people are attending the post disaster conference. They are from Non-Governmental organizations, government ministries such education, Health, Energy, transport, trade, gender, and agriculture, among others.
President Peter Mutharika declared as disaster prone areas all the districts that have been affected by the floods on January 14, 2015.