International disaster response organization ShelterBox is responding to Tropical Cyclone Freddy, a devasting, long-lasting storm that has swept through parts of Eastern Africa leaving tens of thousands homeless.
ShelterBox will provide emergency shelter and live-saving essential household items for families displaced by the catastrophic flooding in Malawi.
Experts say Cyclone Freddy may become one of the most powerful on record, displacing more than 650,000 people from their homes so far.
The storm traveled across the southern Indian Ocean for five weeks in February and March, making landfall in Madagascar, before hitting Mozambique and Malawi, causing widespread devastation. In Malawi, more than 700 have died and hundreds remain missing.
“Tropical Cyclone Freddy is a historic storm that deserves the world’s attention,” said Kerri Murray, president of ShelterBox USA. “As climate change continues, we’re seeing the severity of storms increase, and they are causing unprecedented damage.
“In Malawi, there has been significant loss of life, property, and critical infrastructure. ShelterBox is working around the clock to respond and provide life-saving aid to families who lose everything in an instant.”
Floods and mudslides have consumed homes and washed away farmland and livestock. Lack of adequate shelter and mosquito nets have exposed communities to malaria, and there are growing concerns about water-borne and other diseases, including as a recent cholera epidemic. Malawi’s president has described it as the most devastating Malawi has ever experienced.
A ShelterBox emergency response team deployed to Malawi and is now working with the nonprofit CARE Malawi to provide thousands of people with emergency shelter and other essential items.
“The floods and mudslides have left huge scars on the hillsides, with enormous car sized rocks destroying everything in their path,” said Melanie Hughes, a ShelterBox program manager, who led the response team on deployment in Malawi.
“They’ve left nothing but boulder fields in their wake that will be impossible to clear and so the people in the communities that lived there will have no choice but to move,” she said.
ShelterBox will provide aid as flooding subsides, allowing it to access hard-to-reach locations. The aid package is likely to include shelter kits to build temporary structures, and timber for framing. It will also provide kitchen sets, blankets, mosquito nets, solar lights, sleeping mats, and water filters.
“People will be able to use the aid to construct a shelter that offers protection from the elements, gives safety, and provides privacy – helping people, families, and communities start their road to recovery,” Hughes said.