The Preparedness Project in Malawi: Interview with Mbachi Munthali, the National Preparedness Officer
Format
In March 2019, the flooding and heavy rains related to cyclone Idai killed 60 people in Malawi and affected the livelihoods of over 870,000 Malawians. As the cyclone caused extensive damage to the country’s logistics infrastructure, the National Logistics Cluster was activated on 27 March as part of the emergency response. Led by the Ministry of Transport and Public Works and co-led by the World Food Programme in Malawi, the National Logistics Cluster carried out logistics gaps analysis, coordinated partners’ needs, and thereby assisted the humanitarian community to provide lifesaving aid to the areas affected by the cyclone.
Malawi Preparedness, Quarterly Update, January - March 2021
Format
Highlights
• In January, the Preparedness Project carried out a joint assessment of the container lab sites in collaboration with the Ministry of Health with the aim to increase the testing capacities at Malawi’s border posts as part of the COVID-19 pandemic response.
• In February, the EPR (Emergency Preparedness & Response) unit conducted an oversight mission to Blantyre and Bangula to assess the progress of the ongoing HSA (Humanitarian Staging Area) project and to meet project partners in the Southern Region of Malawi.
Background
Malawi is a landlocked country in southern Africa where rural populations are highly affected by climate change with episodes of drought and severe flooding increasing in frequency, intensity, and unpredictability.
The Preparedness Project in Malawi
Format
Interview with Mbachi Munthali, the National Preparedness Officer
In March 2019, the flooding and heavy rains related to cyclone Idai killed 60 people in Malawi and affected the livelihoods of over 870,000 Malawians. As the cyclone caused extensive damage to the country’s logistics infrastructure, the National Logistics Cluster was activated on 27 March as part of the emergency response. Led by the Ministry of Transport and Public Works and co-led by the World Food Programme in Malawi, the National Logistics Cluster carried out logistics gaps analysis, coordinated partners’ needs, and thereby assisted the humanitarian community to provide lifesaving aid to the areas affected by the cyclone.
2021-03-15 13:30:54 GMT2021-03-15 21:30:54(Beijing Time) Xinhua English
WINDHOEK, March 15 (Xinhua) Moses Ndara had high hopes for his crops after receiving some goods rains this year, but a third wave of the African migratory red locust invasion in Namibia has shattered those hopes, leaving him destitute and dependent on government aid to survive for yet another year. I am lost for words, this is very devastating. I have lost everything, Ndara said as he narrated how the locusts ravaged his two fields leaving nothing in sight. Just a single locust swarm, if it comes into a farmer s field in the morning, by midday it has eaten the entire field. In most if not all cases, that field represents the entire livelihood of that farmer. This is really like a natural disaster, he said.