District Commissioner for Karonga Rosemary Moyo has said her office does not have money to move over 900 households living in flood prone areas to uplands.
The revelation comes following the recent flooding that occurred on Monday which has rendered about 72 households destitute.
According to Moyo, a place was identified at Lupembe some years ago but no attempt has been made to move the people due to resource constraints.
“We realise the need to move people from the affected areas to the upper land but government currently does not have money to compensate the families and no donor has shown us some green light on the matter so our hands remain tied,” said Moyo.
She, however, said her office has managed to provide food to the newly registered victims but appealed for more support from well-wishers as assessment of the situation continues.
According to a report filed by disaster risk management officer for the district Walusungu Mwafulirwa the 72 are from Gwereweta ,Mwenewinse, Katumbi and Mulindafwa villages in the Area of Traditional Authority Kilupula in Karonga.
“The rapid assessment conducted by the Area Civil Protection and the District Civil Protection Committees indicates that eight houses have completely collapsed with the rest submerged in water, with high likelihood of collapsing,” reads the report in part.
In the report Mwafulirwa highlights that four houses at Kaporo Police post have been affected and has also disclosed that the affected population remains in dire need of water, sanitation materials, household utensils and plastic sheets for shelter.
This raises the number of flood victims in the district to 222, with the 150 affected in February still living in desperation at Zindi Camp.
In a twist of events, last month people living in flood prone areas at Kaporo challenged government that they would not leave their ancestral homes in a bid to force government to construct a dyke on the North-Rukuru River which they say is a lasting solution to the problem
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