Climate crisis
Malawi’s president declares climate emergency
Last year, Cyclone “Freddy” hit Malawi. The country is now suffering from a drought. photo
© Thoko Chikondi/AP/dpa
First too much, then too little water: dirt-poor Malawi is suffering from extreme weather in southeast Africa.
Because of the consequences of the climate phenomenon El Niño Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera declared a state of emergency in 23 of the southeast African country’s 28 districts. In a national broadcast address on Saturday evening, he said two million households had been affected by the devastation caused by last year’s floods and subsequent drought.
Almost 750,000 hectares of corn fields were affected. This corresponds to 44.3 percent of all grain cultivation areas in the country, he said. His government estimates Malawi needs 600,000 tons of corn in humanitarian aid.
Tropical Storm “Freddy” devastates the country
Malawi, a country about a third the size of Germany with around 20 million inhabitants, is one of the 25 poorest countries in the world according to the UN Development Program UNDP. A year ago, tropical storm “Freddy” left a path of destruction, killing more than 1,000 people. Because of El Niño, it has been warmer than average and dry since November. The neighboring countries of Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe are also affected. It is now late summer in the southern hemisphere.
El Niño (“The Child”) is a weather phenomenon that occurs at irregular intervals in the equatorial Pacific. The name, once coined by Peruvian fishermen, is derived from the Spanish word for Christ Child because the phenomenon was recorded around Christmas time.