Five days after mudslides from Chilimankhwanje Hill buried Ntauchira Village in Traditional Authority Likoswe, Chiradzulu, locals were carefully using hoes to search for their relatives buried in the mud, a process which is taking long to yield results.

As of Thursday communities had found 12 bodies that had been trapped in the mud.

A community member Robert Ligomeka who has been helping to rescue those trapped, said in an interview that they have been searching for those missing since Tropical Cyclone Freddy hit the area.

He explained: “So far, we have been able to identify 12 bodies. We have also rescued one person who was trapped in the rubble and we rushed him to the hospital.

Sikwala Zabe in search of his relations in Chiradzulu

“We are using hoes; hence we have to be careful; otherwise we may end up injuring someone we want to rescue. We have been forced to do this because no outsider has come here since the incident happened.”

Ligomeka said a team of Malawi Defence Force (MDF) soldiers was deployed to the area on Thursday but they were trapped in the mud before reaching where some people are believed to be buried.

“By 5pm on the day, all the soldiers had left,” he said.

Chiradzulu district disaster risk management officer Charity Machika yesterday said she will follow up on why the rescue team from government was not on the ground.

“What I knew was that MDF officials were on the ground. I have no idea that they left. I need to follow up,” Machika said.

She, however, confirmed that 12 people had died as of yesterday morning, but her office is yet to find out the number of the injured and households displaced.

Seventy of the displaced people are camping at Chanza Primary School, according to the camp’s leader Nyson Chitimbe

The post ‘No govt response in Chiradzulu first appeared on The Nation Online.