Hope Fades – Chances of Finding 500 Missing After Cyclone “Freddy” Fades

Jonathan Namainja is distraught in one of the many evacuation camps in Malawi’s economic metropolis of Blantyre. A flash flood destroyed his home and swept him and his family away, the 42-year-old says in tears.

Neighbors were able to rescue him, but his wife and two children aged seven and ten were buried in mud. He can’t sleep, says Namainja. Every time he closes his eyes, he sees his family’s coffins in front of him.

At least 511 people have been killed in Malawi alone by the unusually long-lasting cyclone, according to the civil protection authority. More than 530 other people are still missing there. But the chances of finding them alive are slim, says the head of the service, Charles Kalemba. He therefore expects the number of victims to rise to more than 1,000.

Entire villages have been swallowed by landslides and mudslides, and flash floods from torrential rains have washed away homes, roads and bridges. Even the people who managed to save themselves from the floods are still in a difficult situation. Many rural areas — often the hardest-hit areas — are still flooded nearly two weeks after the storm and can only be reached by helicopter or boat, Malawi’s disaster response agency said. Those affected are desperately waiting to return, hoping to start rebuilding.

On March 11, “Freddy” made landfall in Southeast Africa for the second time in a month, wreaking havoc in Malawi and neighboring Mozambique. The cyclone originally made landfall on February 21 – in the island state of Madagascar. From there, the storm moved on to Mozambique and then back across the Indian Ocean. There were also deaths in Mozambique and Madagascar. A total of 1.4 million people in the three countries are affected, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Authorities say “Freddy” has displaced more than half a million people in hardest-hit Malawi. Approximately 1,300 seriously injured people are being treated in hospitals. In Malawi, nearly 500,000 children are currently out of school, says aid organization Save the Children.

More than 300 health facilities in Madagascar, Malawi and Mozambique have been destroyed or flooded, according to WHO. According to Doctors Without Borders, tens of thousands of people in Malawi’s southern districts have no access to health services.

“What people need most urgently is food, clean drinking water and shelter,” says Mathew Masinde, head of Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe in Mozambique. He warned of an “uncontrolled spread of the diarrheal disease cholera”, which has already infected more than 55,000 people in Malawi and Mozambique. “The disease can spread massively through flooding, polluted water and poor sanitary conditions,” Masinde warned. Diarrhea can be deadly, especially for weak people. According to the WHO, the risks of malaria, vaccine-preventable diseases and malnutrition have also increased.

The World Food Program (WFP) said prices for staple foods have skyrocketed as a result of the disaster. Markets are inaccessible or there is not enough food. The price of corn has reached a “record level” and is up to 400 percent higher than last year, according to the WFP. Many families struggle daily to get enough food.

The storm is likely the longest-lived cyclone since weather records began, according to the World Weather Organization (WMO). “Freddy” was declared a cyclone on February 6. Southern Africa is currently in cyclone season, which can bring rain and severe storms into March or April.

(yam/sda/dpa)