In Lusaka, the capital of Zambia, weeks of heavy rain at the end of 2025 turned low‑lying neighborhoods into stagnant lakes. When the water finally receded, it left soaked walls, unstable homes, piles of rubbish—and a dangerous mix of waterborne disease.
Many residents in these areas depend on shallow wells as their only water source. After the floods, those wells became contaminated. Local reports now mention cholera, typhoid, and severe diarrhea spreading through crowded settlements where clean water and sanitation were already scarce.
Families have little choice but to sleep on damp, foul‑smelling floors inside houses whose mud‑brick walls have cracked and shifted after being submerged for days. Many structures are informal or unfinished; under flood conditions, they face a constant risk of sudden collapse.
With government cleaning crews yet to arrive in many alleys and back lanes, garbage and debris have piled up. One local volunteer described these places as “forgotten corners” of the city—areas that rarely receive attention, yet now carry the heaviest burden of the disaster.
A local network steps forward
Zambia has struggled with recurring droughts and food shortages in recent years, as climate change alters rainfall patterns across southern Africa. In response, Tzu Chi teams first visited Western Province in 2019 to assess needs, working through regional contacts such as Malaysian volunteer Seow Cheng Soon (蕭清順). That same year, Tzu Chi South Africa organized a training in Lusaka, bringing together over 70 residents who wished to serve their own communities as volunteers.
Those early efforts meant that when the floods hit Lusaka’s low‑lying neighborhoods in December 2025, there were already local people ready to act.
From 20 to 24 January 2026, Zambian volunteers—joined by experienced humanitarian workers from abroad—walked door to door through several of the worst‑hit settlements. They listened to residents, noted the damage to homes, and paid close attention to signs of illness and the state of water sources. Where possible, they offered immediate comfort and basic guidance on hygiene and safety, while also planning a longer‑term response.
Three‑phase “Hope Project” for flood survivors
Based on what they saw in the field, the relief team designed a three‑phase plan aimed not only at distributing goods but at helping neighborhoods stabilize and recover.
Phase one: Cleaning the environment
The first step is a coordinated clean‑up in three of the most severely affected communities.
Volunteers will work side by side with residents to remove water‑logged rubbish, clear blocked drains, and deal with stagnant pools where mosquitoes and pathogens can breed. In dense informal settlements, even a few clogged drainage channels can quickly turn yards and lanes into breeding grounds for malaria and diarrheal disease.
By clearing waste and standing water, residents can reclaim their streets and reduce the immediate risk of outbreaks. The work also gave neighbors a practical way to support one another, rather than waiting in uncertainty for outside help.
LEFT: In December 2025, continuous heavy rain flooded low‑lying areas across Zambia; many neighborhoods in Lusaka were inundated. RIGHT: Local volunteers conducted on‑the‑ground assessments from 20 to 24 January 2026. | Photos: Tzu Chi Foundation
Phase two: Emergency supplies for nine communities
The second phase expands support to nine flood‑affected communities, with a focus on basic needs for 1,000 families.
Relief packages are being prepared to address three urgent gaps identified during the assessment:
- Safe drinking water: tools or supplies to help families access or treat water that will not make them sick.
- Hygiene and disease prevention: items such as soap, basic disinfectants, or simple protective materials that can help families keep their surroundings cleaner.
- Food staples: to ease the burden on households whose income sources have been disrupted or whose stored food was washed away.
For families already coping with poverty, the floods meant lost possessions, extra medical expenses, and days or weeks of lost earnings. Targeted supplies can buy time and reduce the pressure to choose between buying food or medicine.
LEFT: Volunteers’ January visits combined assessment with immediate care for families in flooded neighborhoods. RIGHT: Many mud or informal structures now face the constant risk of collapse. | Photos: Tzu Chi Foundation
Phase three: Repairing the homes of community helpers
During their visits, the team discovered that not only residents but also local volunteers had lost much in the floods. Fifteen Zambian volunteers who had been serving others found their own homes badly damaged.
The third phase of the plan focuses on these households.
By providing materials and practical support for basic house repairs, the project aims to ensure that these community helpers have a safe place to live. A secure home makes it easier for them to continue visiting neighbors, distributing aid, and organizing local clean‑up and education activities.
In many humanitarian settings, local volunteers are the bridge between outside organizations and the people most in need. Supporting them strengthens the entire response.
LEFT: Neglected corners of the city have become even more degraded, and disease has begun to spread. RIGHT: Backstreets that were once merely untidy are now heavily affected by the floods. | Photos: Tzu Chi Foundation
Life in the “forgotten corners”
In the flooded neighborhoods of Lusaka, daily routines have been upended.
Parents worry about children walking through contaminated water or playing near unstable walls. Older residents and people with disabilities are often the last to receive help clearing debris from their homes. Some households, having lost their few possessions, now rest directly on damp concrete or mud floors at night, increasing the risk of respiratory illness and skin infections.
Public services struggle to keep up. In the absence of regular trash collection or large‑scale drainage work, it falls to residents themselves to try to restore some basic order.
The presence of volunteers—many of them neighbors—has offered practical help as well as emotional care. When someone comes to listen, to clear a yard, or to check on a sick child, families feel less alone in the face of overlapping crises: flood damage, loss of income, and spreading disease.
Rebuilding health, dignity, and community
The situation in Lusaka’s flooded districts remains fragile. Contaminated wells, damaged houses, and accumulated waste mean that health risks will not disappear quickly, even if the rains stop.
The three‑phase response is therefore a starting point rather than a complete solution: clean up the environment, stabilize basic needs, and support the people who are already helping their own communities.
As the work unfolds, the team will continue to monitor disease trends and the pace of home repairs, adjusting future efforts to what residents say they need most. In a context of limited state capacity and growing climate pressures, such community‑based responses are increasingly important.
For families living in the “forgotten corners” of Lusaka, seeing neighbors and volunteers clear debris, bring supplies, and help rebuild walls is more than just practical assistance. It is a reminder that, even amid mud and uncertainty, they have not been left to face disaster alone.
Written by Hsiang‑Hui Huang (黃湘卉)
