A man desperately reaches for a river bank as flood water pushes him to a likely death in the Lingadzi river in Kasache village close to Lake Malawi. Four rescuers in bright orange life jackets throw him a line in a last frantic attempt to reach him, realising this may be the last opportunity of saving his life. He reaches successfully for the line with his last reserves of energy and is finally pulled out spluttering water from his lungs.

This man was actually never in any danger of losing his life, but was taking part in a realistic simulation of a rescue attempt during heavy rains that regularly cause widespread river flooding in this part of Malawi. Here, there is no water, no river.

The man and his four rescuers are part of a team that has been training for weeks to respond to the type of flood which in the past has killed local people and devastated their property.

Communities have been practicing evacuation drills in preparation for expected floods

[Photo: Daniel Dickinson, European Commission Humanitarian Aid department]

Now placed on a wood and rope stretcher, the rescued man is taken past the flood control desk where he is confirmed as being the same man who was earlier declared missing and probably swept away by the flood, and then on to an infirmary, which has also been set up as part of the flood drill response. To the right in another room, a group of children, who may have lost their homes in the flood, are looked after by villagers, while two women prepare food for the community.

Bitter experience

Twenty-five year old mother of three, Agnes Nguluwe, has learnt from bitter experience the devastating consequences of flooding. 'My house used to be close to the river, but it was swept away by floods during the night last February. My house was destroyed, I lost most of my household possessions,' she said. 'My maize crop was totally ruined and all of my chickens were killed.'

She is now living in a grass house about one kilometre from the river. It is the third time she has been forced to move because of flooding. Like most of the villagers at Kasache, she has been involved in the many drills and drama performances that are preparing people like her for the likelihood of flooding.

It is not a new phenomenon for rivers in this part of Malawi to burst their banks; indeed, the regular flooding has made the land around Kasache one of the most fertile places in Malawi, producing high yields and making it an attractive location for farmers to cultivate.

However, a recent increase in the frequency and intensity of floods has made the area both dangerous and difficult to farm, according to the local community leader, Nindi Useni. 'We used to have floods every five years, but now they come almost every year,' he said. 'They are also a lot more violent and bigger than before and are now a serious threat to the livelihood of our villages.'

Flood patterns

There are two main reasons for the change in the traditional flood patterns. Deforestation by tobacco growers in the hills where the rivers which course through Kasache and surrounding villages rise means that when it rains, little of the water is absorbed and retained by the ground; instead flash floods are created which sweep across the countryside, further eroding the land.

There has also been a noticeable alteration in the rainfall pattern with irregular and more intense rainy seasons, a shift which many experts have put down to the effects of climate change.

The increase in the number of life and livelihood threatening floods has led to the launching of a 5 million euros (US$7.5m) disaster risk reduction programme (DRR) funded by the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid department. The programme, which covers not just Malawi, but also Madagascar, Mozambique and Comoros, aims to prepare communities to deal with the increasing likelihood of localised natural disasters, be it flooding in Malawi and Mozambique, cyclones in Madagascar or the eruption of the Karthala volcano in Comoros.

In Malawi, the programme, through its partners on the ground, such as COOPI in Kasache, has focused on a number of disaster risk reduction activities, including risk awareness, disaster mapping and evacuation simulations, as well as small-scale mitigation projects, such as planting river bank grasses to hold back flooding.

Borja Cuervo, a European Commission DRR expert based in Southern Africa, says the programme aims to build the resilience of communities in the face of natural catastrophes. 'The first 72 hours after a disaster strikes is the most critical as this is when most loss of life and property occurs. International relief agencies generally do not reach affected areas during this critical time, so it's crucial that communities know how to respond.'

The rainy season is due to begin in Malawi, and the people of Kasache village are more prepared than ever before to deal with flooding. Agnes Nguluwe realises that she will now have to relocate to higher ground away from the crops she farms. Some of her neighbours are more reluctant to move. When the floods come, they may be the ones who are dragged from the river, but this time it will not be a simulation.