The psychological trauma which attended the first grips of the Karonga earthquake scene was followed by sorrow, despair, rejection on the faces of the affected communities.
Although Bishop Joseph Bvumbwe offered the word of comfort to the tremor’s victims in that evening of January 23rd, 2010, his expressions showed that the church delegation was deeply touched by the incident.
The delegation of Evangelical Lutheran Church in Malawi lead by Bishop Bvumbwe from its Head Office arrived late in the evening and the first signal of shock to the disaster in the district was the crack on the new road, the government of Malawi is constructing and the only road that would win the favour of politics of Malawi. The road that extends for almost 100 kilometres (80 miles) to Chitipa the farthest northern district of Malawi.The 20th December 2009, tremor that hit the district was believed to have its epicenter at around Rukulu Primary School.
According to Mr Mtsunji, the Project Officer of Karonga field office of Evangelical Lutheran Development Service (ELDS) one of the residents of Rukulu had a shock on the day of earthquake when seconds after the family vacated the house, water fully covered his damaged residence. The man heard cries outside and many people were left displaced on that day and upon return from the scenery he was shocked to see water running in out of cracks of his house.The ELCM group arrived at Karonga town very late in the evening but the saddest welcome is small simple shelters of weak plastic paper shades, which are outside every household, as if they are for showcasing. Since the president of Malawi declared that Karonga is an earthquake disaster district thousands of people have been sleeping outside their houses.