The Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU) in the Office of the Vice President has dispatched a plane carrying a consignment of humanitarian aid worth about US$1 million to help survivors of Cyclone Freddy in Malawi.
This was after President Hakainde Hichilema had directed DMMU to provide relief intervention to the neighboring Malawi after his counterpart President Lazarus Chakwera, declared a state of disaster following the devastating cyclone that ripped through the country and left over 250 people dead in Blantyre and other cities.
ZANIS reports that DMMU National Coordinator, Gabriel Pollen in the company of Ministry of Information and Media Permanent Secretary Kennedy Kalunga officially flagged off the relief dispatch to Malawi at Lusaka ZAF Base Airport this morning.
Dr. Pollen told the media that Zambia is providing humanitarian aid to Malawi to help survivors of the cyclone despite the country also facing devastating floods in many parts of the country.
Dr. Pollen said President Hichilema’s decision to direct DMMU to provide humanitarian aid to Malawi is in the spirit of good neighborliness.
Among the donated relief items include metric tonnes of maize, beans, salt, tents, Liquid chlorine, blankets, dignity kits, sanitary and hygiene packs, kitchen sets and circular mosquito nets.
Some media institutions covering the aftermath of the floods in Malawi indicate that there are currently many casualties of Cyclone Freddy in Malawi, either wounded, missing or dead and the number has continued to increase.