Contribution short abstract:

This paper highlights community-led flood resilience strategies in Malawi. The community employed living with floods mitigation measures such as construction of raised houses, community led restoration initiatives, culture practices including praying to their god, Mbona and offering sacrifices.

Contribution long abstract:

Flooding poses a threat to human life such that nations implement different mitigation and adaptation measures to protect human life. One of the mitigation measures in Malawi was planned resettlement. However, in the quest to remain in the flood plains to protect their place attachment due to livelihoods needs, social bonding and place identity, the flood plain dwellers employed their own in situ mitigation measures which has a great impact on the people’s life and their socioeconomic status. These community-initiated mitigation and adaptation measures include construction of raised houses locally known at ‘tchete’, building of flood barriers, planting trees and grass along riverbanks. Additionally, people believed in the supernatural powers by their ancestors as one of the mitigation measures to flooding. A belief that ancestral protection could be obtained by using traditional medicine to keep the floods away and praying to the ancestors for help by offering sacrifices locally known as “nsembe” is strongly expressed as a mitigation measure in the study area. It was learnt that the people’s belief and culture has had a great impact on how the Lower Shire River valley community copes with flooding. Therefore, this study highlights different narratives of disaster response where communities have strong voice and employs their own mitigation and adaption measures when in crisis whose ideologies differs from the policy makers point of view. Therefore, these measures highlight grassroots responses to disasters, the potential for alternative modes of social transformation that prioritize community agency, self-determination, and sustainable crisis response.