Department of Disaster Management Affairs (Dodma) commissioner for disaster Charles Kalemba has warned people in Salima against living in flood-prone areas.

He issued the warning on Wednesday when he engaged the District Civil Protection Committee.

Kalemba encouraged people to follow weather forecasts and relocate to upland areas on time to prevent loss of lives and property.

“I have advised district councils not to distribute relief items to households that deliberately live in disaster-prone areas,” he said.

Kalemba discouraged the tendency of using disasters as a way of accessing free handouts.

In November last year, he also encouraged councils to ensure people do not settle along river banks or other disaster-prone areas, saying it was expensive to respond to disasters.

Houses immersed in floods in this file photo

Salima district commissioner Grace Chirwa Kanyimbiri said the council will successfully implement the lean season response.

“We will implement the response after identifying beneficiaries,” she said.

In November last year, Dodma rolled out the implementation of 2022/23 Lean Season Food Insecurity Response Programme targeting food-insecure people in the country.

The exercise followed the Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee report which projected that 3.8 million Malawians will be food-insecure during the 2022/23 lean season.

Besides distributing relief maize and cash to enable people to buy maize during the lean season, Dodma also responds to disasters.

Salima is one of the districts that experience natural disasters in the country.

In November last year,Dodma distributed relief items to 203 households affected by rainstorms in traditional authorities Kalonga and Maganga.

Salima district relief and rehabilitation officer Gloria Chinangwa said they also gave people plastic sheets to repair their houses.

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