Floods in Africa 2015

Malawi floods devastation far worse than first thought

UN agencies scale up response to disaster that has displaced nearly a quarter of a million people, and threatens disease and malnutrition

People cross a river with their belongings where a bridge once stood in Phaloni, southern Malawi, on 22 January. Heavy rains and floods have displaced 230,000 people in the southeastern African country. Photograph: Shiraaz Mohamed/AP

http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/feb/10/malawi-floods-devastation-far-worse-than-first-thoughtNearly a quarter of a million people, more than originally thought, have been affected by the devastating floods that ripped through Malawi a month ago, and with rains still falling, many of the 230,000 who were forced to flee their homes have been unable to return and rebuild their lives, the UN said.

The UN children’s agency, Unicef, said new figures from the UN and the government of Malawi showed the number of people displaced stood at 230,000, compared with an original estimate of 174,000. About 64,000 hectares (158,147 acres) of land were damaged, it added.
The scale of the disaster has wreaked havoc on the densely populated country, where most people survive from subsistence farming. Crops of maize have been destroyed, villages obliterated, homes swept away and livestock killed.
In mid-January, President Peter Mutharika declared half the country a disaster zone and estimated it would cost 23.9bn kwacha ($51m) to repair the damage.
Unicef said 276 people had been killed or were missing, while 645 people had been injured.