December earthquakes hit Northern Malawi; cyclone expected to hit Madagascar next week

January 10th, 2010

Northern Malawi was hit by a number of earthquakes in the course of December, with 4,600 families needing assistance.  Now Madagascar is bracing itself for the probable arrival of tropical cyclone Edzani, which is being forecast will hit the island on January 14th.

WFP delivers to Madagascar

Malawians have been complaining about the quality of some of the materials supplied to them by relief agencies, IRIN quoting one woman as saying, “The only relief item I received was a 20m plastic sheet, which is hardly enough to cover the roof of my shack. It is the rainy season here and you can imagine what we are going through when it pours.  The plastic sheets need frequent replacing because they are not strong enough to withstand the heat here.”  She is also critical of lack of food aid, “I feel that aid such as beans, sugar, cooking oil, rice and maize should have come second after family tents and plastic sheets.”

In Madagascar there is a different problem, but with a similar probable outcome.  In November last year the UN appealed for $6m in emergency funding to allow it to pre-position goods against the likely arrival of cyclones, but no money has been forthcoming.  The political situation on the island, where a coup in January 2009 ousted the President and replaced him with his rival, has played a major part in the withdrawal of aid agencies and the reluctance of donors to provide money.

As a result, during the past year, humanitarian agencies have exhausted their emergency stocks in responding to drought in the south, and cyclones that hit the island in early 2009.  And losses of supplies related to the political crisis have not been replaced.  The capital, Antananarivo, is particularly vulnerable to flooding during the cyclone season and if a serious one hits the island “up to 20,000 people could be at risk,” Pierre Bry, Senior Humanitarian Affairs Officer at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Madagascar told IRIN.

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