The Pan-African Parliament (PAP) on Thursday sent messages of solidarity and support to the people of Malawi following the unrelenting Tropical Cyclone Freddy that hit the country from March 3.

As of Friday death toll stood at 438, with 189 579 displaced and hundreds of survivors spending days without food.

Blantyre City West legislator Steven Mikaya, who is also PAP member, told a PAP plenary in South Africa on Thursday that the cyclone has ravaged Malawi, Madagascar and Mozambique to unprecedented levels of destruction.

He said: “All this, Mr. President [of PAP], is coming at a time Malawi was starting to show signs of recovery from the deadly Covid-19 pandemic that also came hard on the heels of the tropical cyclones Ana and Gombe that left a similar trail of devastation and destruction.

“The Southern Region is hardest hit. We have no power, no running water and roads are impassable. It may take years to fully recover. I make a special appeal to this gathering to assist. President of Malawi Dr. Lazarus Chakwera has declared a State of Disaster in Malawi, I extend this to you.”

Chakwera greets Cyclone Freddy survivors
at Mitawa Primary School evacuation camp

In his message of solidarity and expression of heartfelt condolences, PAP president Chief Fortune Charumbira called for urgent and long-lasting climate-smart solutions across Africa.

“We call on the African Union to vigorously pursue the enforcement of climate justice and ensure full representation, inclusion and protection of the lives of Africans, who are the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change,” he said.

The gathering conveyed solidarity to Chakwera and called for international and continental ways of recovery for the region.

Cyclone Freddy pummelled the Southern Region districts, with Blantyre as the epicentre, causing flooding and mudslides that have killed hundreds.

The cyclone has in six days poured, in Malawi, rains equivalent for six months in six days, with strong winds collapsing bridges and water systems, making roads impassable, and crippling the power supply.

According to the World Meteorological Organisation, Cyclone Freddy is the longest-lasting tropical cyclone (34 days) after Hurricane Jones of 1994 (31).

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