Photos: Cyclone Freddy to ease after battering Malawi, Mozambique

Blantyre, Malawi: Lacking sniffer dogs and armed just with shovels, rescuers in storm-ravaged Malawi on Thursday went on a grim hunt for buried bodies after Cyclone Freddy struck the southern African country, killing more than 200 people.

Malawi Defence Force soldiers recover a body of a victim of landslide which resulted due to heavy rains resulting from Cyclone Freddy at Manje informal settlement in Blantyre, southern Malawi.

A nurse gives medical treatment to 35-year old flood victim, Lukia Akimu from Soche Quarry during Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera's visit to Queen Elizabeth Central hospital.

As the rains ceased for the first time in five days, rescuers dug up decomposing bodies buried under mud and the debris of homes that had been swept away by the storm.

People attend the burial ceremony of some of the people who lost their lives following heavy rains caused by Cyclone Freddy in Blantyre, southern Malawi.

A general view of a landslide at Mbayani in Blantyre due to heavy rains following the effects of cyclone Freddy.

A joint operation by the military and local inhabitants recovered five bodies in Manje, a township around 15 kilometres (nine miles) south of the commercial capital Blantyre, after locals said they had spotted bubbles forming under the muddy rubble.

Freddy returned to the African coast at the weekend for the second time in less than three weeks, leaving tears and destruction in its wake.

“There are many casualties — either wounded, missing, or dead and the numbers will only increase in the coming days," said Guilherme Botelho, the emergency project coordinator in Blantyre for Doctors Without Borders.

Malawi, which has been battling a cholera outbreak, is at risk of a resurgence of the disease, Botelho said, "especially since the vaccine coverage in Blantyre is very poor.”

The aid organization has suspended its outreach programs to protect its staff against flash floods and landslides but is supporting cyclone relief efforts at a local hospital.

People stand next to a strong flowing river in Blantyre, Malawi.

People cross a makeshift bridge over flood waters in Chimkwankhunda in Blantyre.

“Even rich countries that are advanced democracies would have been no match for the level of destruction this cyclone has brought," said Kim Yi Dionne, a political scientist at the University of California Riverside.

Freddy has accumulated more energy over its journey across the Indian Ocean than an entire U.S. hurricane season.

Yi Dionne said that the scale of destruction comes despite Malawi's disaster agency having prepared and planned “for the challenges that come with our contemporary climate crisis.”

Scientists say climate change caused by mostly industrialized nations pumping greenhouse gases into the air has worsened cyclone activity , making them more intense and more frequent. The recently-ended La Nina that impacts weather worldwide also increased cyclone activity in the region.

African nations, who only contribute about 4% of planet-warming emissions, are “once again paying the steepest price to climate change, including their own lives,” said Lynn Chiripamberi, who leads Oxfam's southern Africa humanitarian program.

Minister of Water Sanitation Abida Mia (2nd L) carries relief food to be distributed to mudslide victims at the Chilobwe township’s Naotcha Primary school camp in Blantyre.

Cyclone Freddy has been causing destruction in southern Africa since late February. It pummeled Mozambique as well as the islands of Madagascar and Réunion last month as it traversed the Indian Ocean.

Freddy first developed near Australia in early February. The UN's weather agency has convened an expert panel to determine whether it has broken the record for the longest-ever cyclone in recorded history, which was set by 31-day Hurricane John in 1994.

Men salvage parts from their destroyed home, following heavy rains in Blantyre, southern Malawi.

A man checks the damage to his home, destroyed following heavy rains in Blantyre southern Malawi.

People brave the wet weather in Blantyre, Malawi.

Young boys carry plastic as they look for items to salvage from the Nasolo river in Ndirande township in Blantyre, Malawi.