Fire leaves 15 Mpulungu families homeless

Fire leaves 15 Mpulungu families homeless

Mpulungu, June 12, 2013, ZANIS—Fifteen families of Mpulungu have been left

homeless after their houses caught fire in Myamba village.

The incident happened on Monday night after a fire engulfed the
village which is located on the shores of Lake Tanganyika.

District commissioner Juliana Chuzu who rushed to the
village yesterday confirmed the incident in which household goods worth
thousands of rebased kwacha were lost in the inferno.

A resident of Myamba village Derrick Sichilima narrated that the fire
started around 23:00 hours raged on until it was put off some time after midnight.

Mr Sichilima said most of the houses were gutted because the owners had
gone fishing when the fire started and could not be unlocked to
salvage some goods.

‘’People have lost cash, food, blankets, beds, mattresses, kitchen
utensils and other numerous household goods in the fire,’’ Mr Sichilima
explained.

He described the fire as a disaster and appealed to
government through the disaster management and mitigation unit (DMMU)
to help the people of Myamba village.

Mr Sichilima said the most urgent needs of the affected families was food
that was also lost in the inferno.

‘’But we also need tents to assist our brothers and sisters who have
been left homeless by this disaster,’’ Mr  Sichilima added.

The village whose mainstay is fishing has an estimated population of
500 people and 120 households.

Although some villagers have suggested that the fire could have been
ignited by strong winds that were experienced on Monday night, police
in Mpulungu have picked up one person to help them with
investigations.

Speaking when she addressed the villagers, the district commissioner said the fire
incident will be reported to the DMMU and assured that government
would help the affected families.

She advised the village headman to help the victims with temporal
accommodation in the meantime.

‘’Also ensure that you put out your fires every time you retire for
bed……especially these months of June, July and August ….they are windy
and very dangerous for fires and it is mostly sad that most of you
have even lost cash in your homes that you use in your fishing
businesses,’’ said Ms Chuzu.

Meanwhile, a disease suspected to be scabies has broken out and is
affecting mostly children in the same village.

A mother only identified as Helen Nakazwe said for the last four
months, children below the age of ten have suffered from the attacks,
saying that the parents’ efforts to get them to the clinic for medical
attention had proved futile.

‘’We have been taking them to the clinic for injections but the
scabies always come back….we need the people from health to come and
help us with this disease because our children are suffering,’’
Ms Nakazwe said.

District commissioner Juliana Chuzu promised to send health personnel
to investigate the cause of the disease.