Climate change is real and is no longer a song on paper which we have been singing for quite some time with minimal felt effects. Malawi as one of the land locked country in the southern Africa is susceptible to both direct and indirect hits of natural disasters. According to Department climate change of Meteorological service the climate in Malawi is largely decided by the oscillations of the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), the converging of – and interaction between – the zonal Congo air mass and the meridional south-eastern trade winds and monsoonal north-eastern winds.

Not long ago, Malawi has experienced severe weather changes which includes Cyclone Idai in March 2019, which caused some widespread flooding and also landslides and resulting in over 60 cumulated deaths. Another cyclone which hit Mozambique in April 2019, also affected us by causing flooding and heavy downpour in Malawi was Tropical Cyclone Kenneth. All these occurrence has happened in sequential shortest period of time and are becoming order of the day a thing which is worrisome.

The historical Cyclone Freddy has broken a number of world records namely; longest-lived tropical cyclone surpassing hurricane John’s record of 31 days and the highest accumulated cyclone energy (ACE) of any tropical cyclone surpassing hurricane Loke’s record of 82. The fourth named cyclone of 2022-23 Australian region cyclone season made its first landfall in February 2023 in Mozambique. The department of climate change and meteorological service who were closely monitoring the tropical cyclone as early as February 2023 and continued to track it until it made its land fall in Mozambique despite the fact that it did not affected us like our counterparts in Mozambique and Madagascar.

The 2^nd landfall of Tropical Cyclone Freddy which saw 10 districts from southern region being affected was very macabre. The Department of climate change and meteorological services who issued a strong on Freddy on Tuesday 7 March 2023 at exactly 6:00 pm clear stated that the Freddy would make second landfall over coast of Mozambique and Madagascar by Friday 10^th March 2023 and the effects would be damaging winds, torrential rain and flooding to the southern areas received from Friday. As it was warned it indeed rained horrifically forcing people into self-lockdown in their houses. 

Just after 24 hours, the dark side of the Cyclone Freddy began to be felt. The first areas that reported catastrophic occurrences were chilobwe, Ndirande and Chiradzulu where people’s houses were washed away, people reported missing others injured. In other areas the time ticking bomb didn’t last as rains continued to pour incessantly, when rivers began to swell up and mud, stones started sliding towards communities from hills and mountains. It was no longer few places but the whole southern region with each district with same story of running water destroying things unmercifully.  

The electricity generation company and its sister company electricity supply commission were not spared as their materials were damaged, power cables, poles shattered onto the ground making it impossible for the fault department to constantly restore power during the downpour. And to protect the equipment at the generation sites EGENCO was forced to shut down all in machines imposing a country wide blackout with no hope that the power would return soon. This affected communications and SOS Information relaying as people’s phones went off and network coverage too dragged in hard to reach areas. 

As of March 31 2023, 16 councils were reportedly to be affected namely Balaka, Blantyre city, Blanytre District, Chikwawa, Chiradzulu, Machinga, Mangochi, Mulanje, Mwanza, Neno, nsanje, Ntcheu, Phalombe, Thyolo, Zomba city and Zomba District and the death toll stood at 537 with 1,724 registered injuries and 533 people missing. The number of displaced people was at 564,239 with 577 camps set aside to accommodate the displaced. As we were writing this article some communities were still floating in water, roads cut off and inaccessible and a number of social facilities completely closed because of the dire situation as essential equipment were wiped out as well as staff houses buried in the mud.

Media quarters and historians has marked this tropical Cyclone as first horrific occurrence in Malawi as far as natural disaster is concerned as its effect chocked the government disaster response mechanism making it overwhelmed to cope with the situation fully. Truth to be told, the department of disaster in Malawi was subdued with the effects of the cyclone. However as country having had the warnings about the occurrence way back, we failed to respond as quickly as possible in rescuing survivors. Our choppers were reported to be grounded due to mechanical issues and the MDF interventions in the rescue mission started using boats despite the risk of nature of how the water were running fast.

The painful truth about this cyclone is that a lot of people died while waiting for help in places where they were stuck calling out for help. Some cringed to trees and some climbed on top of roof houses but help never came in time as water levels continued to swallow anything on its way together with those people holding onto. Much as this served as a painful lesson but it also unveils how broken is our disaster response system towards saving lives.

The Cyclone Freddy apart from devastation and its horrific outcomes, it has also brought unity among Malawians. The way Malawians mobilized themselves both online and on ground to practically assist those victims with physical help, moral support and relief items needed like food, clothes, blankets, and also delivery was such materials was a commendable job-experience. Real heroes spent sleepless nights ensuring those that needed help got it at before sunset even if it means sleeping on the road. With such coordination which was so huge and well organized made us forget that sometimes we do become divided because of political affiliations.

By now we should appreciate the huge role the international community played in this disaster through the support that was rendered ranging from rescue choppers, Jet fuel, billions of kwachas, relief food and material items of which our country’s economy could not manage to cope due to the overwhelming impact the cyclone has brought onto our country.

Despite the fact that cyclones and other natural disasters are a natural part of the Earth’s climate system and have occurred long before human civilization existed, it is worth noting that climate change is causing an increase in the frequency and intensity of cyclones. As the Earth’s temperature rises, so does the amount of energy available to drive these storms, which can lead to more destructive outcomes. There is a need for us to understand and address the impacts of human-caused climate change on our planet’s natural systems.