LILONGWE, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- More food supplies and tents are urgently needed to cater for over 80,000 men, women and children displaced by floods in Malawi's border districts of Nsanje and Chikhwawa, following the influx of hundreds of Mozambicans also affected by floods.
District Commissioner for Chikhwawa, Harry Phiri, told a local radio Saturday that the situation in the camps was very pathetic and that the floods victims were starving.
"We urgently need food - flour and other ready-made or easy to prepare food stuff because the floods victims are really starving in the camps," said Phiri. "We don't need maize because there is no electricity here and milling would be a problem."
The commissioner also called for urgent supplies of tents, saying most of the victims were camped in school blocks forcing immediate closure of lessons in the schools.
He also appealed to the United Nation High Commission for Refugees, UNHCR, to support the Mozambicans who have thronged the camps in Chikhwawa and Nsanje.
The district commissioner's appeal for more supplies came four days after Malawi President, Peter Mutharika, declared state of disaster and called for humanitarian support.
Hailstorm and floods have killed more than 50 people in Malawi, most of them in the south including the two districts which lie alongside Shire, the country's biggest river and the only outlet of Lake Malawi.
The death toll could go higher as many people were still missing amid ongoing searching and rescuing operations conducted by Malawi Defence Force.
