JCED solidarity visit to cyclone affected areas in southern Malawi (2010)
By Linda Bordoni
Mar 21 2023
The death toll from Cyclone Freddy that hit southern Malawi on 12 March continues to climb. As of Monday, it reached 447 and almost 300 people are still missing. Almost 350,000 people have been displaced. The Jesuit Centre for Ecology and Development, is calling for support and disaster prevention.
The death toll continues to rise from the landslides and flooding caused by Cyclone Freddy that slammed into southern Africa last week, killing hundreds of people, destroying homes and lands, and displacing hundreds of thousands.
In the hardest-hit nation, Malawi, entire villages have been washed away and communities are sheltering in schools and camps. Humanitarian agencies, including Church run-organizations, are on the ground bringing relief to people who have lost everything.
Martha Phiri is the Policy Researcher and Advocacy Officer for the Jesuit Centre for Ecology and Development based in Malawi’s capital city, Lilongwe. She told Vatican Radio of the solidarity visit undertaken by her team in collaboration with Caritas Malawi to assess the peoples’ most urgent needs and to provide emergency aid.
She also spoke about how psychological support is needed for the traumatized population and called for better disaster preparedness and prevention on the part of authorities.
The work of the Jesuit-run JCED, Martha explained, is engaged in resilience building, adaptation and climate justice advocacy, targeting those most affected and vulnerable in rural and marginalized communities.
“What inspired our work is what our Pope Francis invites us to do: to hear the cry of the poor and the cry of the earth. And not just hearing, but to take action,” she said.
Pope Francis’ closeness
And referring to Pope Francis who expressed his grief for the victims of the natural disaster and his closeness to all those affected by the cyclone during his General Audience last Wednesday, Martha said his words were conveyed to the people of Malawi, mainly through the churches.
The Pope’s words are important, she said, and “to see the Pope being with us, journeying with us, and trying to give hope to us, is very comforting.”
Martha spoke of how the solidarity visit she just undertook to the southern, most affected parts of the country, took the team along disrupted roads, following the paths of mudslides that led to destroyed homesteads, to be with thousands of people gathered in “evacuation camps.”
Many evacuation centres, she noted, are in schools, and that means that schools are closed.
The team made up of JCED and Caritas Malawi members was also joined by some of the Catholic bishops from the areas affected by the cyclone in a sign of solidarity and closeness.
During their visit, they were able to provide food and other items like clothes, shoes, blankets and buckets.
