Introduction to Hydro-Climatic

Disasters

Cross Roads Hotel - Blantyre

18 June 2019
Vincent Cheyo Msadala, PhD
vmsadala@gmail.com or vmsadala@must.ac.mw
0882750550
why are we here?
 To add another “attendance certificate” on our office
walls? Paid break from work?
 A challenge to provide solutions to the disasters that
Malawi face, often with inadequate resources and
information
 Experienced staff in disaster risk management at national
and district level
 Discuss best practices, lessons and alternative ways of
doing things in disaster risk management in Malawi
Stimulation of new thinking
 Challenging work of making policies/decisions that influence people’s lives and
opportunities
 To familiarize ourself with methods of dealing with disasters
 To stimulate some discussions amongst all of us here so that we can effectively
apply our minds and expertise on issues to do with disaster risk management and
serve our people better
… stimulation of new thinking…
 “Man is limited not so much by his tools as by his vision” The Art of Japanese
Management by Pascale and Athos
 Managerial skills and technical expertise/ knowhow are key to your success in DRM
 But one’s vision is sometimes informed by: values, patriotism, empathy, integrity –
(sometimes not taught in school)
 Disasters
 Disasters – we can’t prevent them
 But
-We can prepare for them
-We can reduce their potential impacts on
community livelihoods
-This training is about local and international
best practices,,, lessons
On dealing with hydro-climatic disasters
Occurrence and Impacts of Disasters

 “A disaster is a serious disruption of the functioning of a society or

community that causes widespread human, material or environmental loss
which exceeds the capacity of the affected society to cope without external
intervention” according to United Nations International Strategy for Disaster
Reduction (UNISDR)

(i) Hydro meteorological disasters – landslides/avalanches; droughts/famines;

extreme temperatures and heat waves; floods; hurricanes; forest fires; wind
storms; insect infestation and storm surges.

(ii) Geophysical disasters – earthquakes; volcanoes and tsunamis.

Globally, over 90% of all-natural hazards are water related

Recorded disasters and their reported
impacts
 The 1991 flooding in Malawi affected Chiringa, Phalombe and Mulanje.
 In early 2000 a cyclone swept across southern Africa leading to three weeks of
severe flooding which devastated Mozambique
 The 2012/2013 floods affected 12,877 households and killed four people.
 The 2015 floods were the most devastating in terms of geographical coverage,
severity of damage and extent of loss. An estimated 1,101,364 people were
affected, 230,000 displaced, 106 killed and 172 reported missing.
 Cyclone Idai in 2019 caused severe flooding in Madagascar, Mozambique,
Malawi and Zimbabwe and killed 856 people (534 in Mozambique, 261 in
Zimbabwe and 60 in Malawi). The cyclone affected over 3 million people.
Sources: DoDMA, MRCS, UNDP, http://www.intute.ac.uk/sciences/hazards/
timeline.html.
Studies
Research
Consultancies
DRM Theme
Guidelines
Guidelines
Guidelines
Toolbox
Toolbox
Toolbox
Disasters
Knowledge and Tools (ODSS)
Over 1 Billion Kwacha Spent on the Tool
 Group Activity 1 – Discussion – Introductory
exercise on hydro-climatic disasters

It is generally believed that we can’t prevent floods but we can prepare for
them. One of the best ways to prepare for floods and deal with them is to come
up with effective communication and information dissemination systems. The
Shire River Basin Management Programme (SRBMP) developed an Operation
Decision Support System (ODSS) that is able to predict flooding. On 3 and 4 March
2019, the modelling system was able to predict the risk of flooding in the lower
Shire and provide email/SMS alerts as shown in Figure 1.1.
As of 22 March 2019, the 2019 Malawi floods had resulted in 868,900 people
affected, 86,980 people displaced, 672 injuries and 59 deaths across 15 affected
districts (DoDMA, Situation Report No 2).
In groups of not more than seven people, discuss why the March 2019 floods still
resulted in considerable losses of life despite the prior warnings. What should be
done in future to limit the impacts of such flooding disasters.
THANKS