Government authorities have repatriated at least 800 families out of a total of 1,600 who have taken refuge in Malawi since January due to natural disasters in central Mozambique's Zambezia province.

"We have managed to close the repatriation process of all the Mozambicans who were here in the accommodation centers, and we will also inform our colleagues in Malawi to close them down," César Tembe, director of Prevention and Mitigation of the National Institute for Disaster Risk Management and Reduction (INGD), told the media in Zambezia province.

The families, who were in four accommodation centers closed on Saturday, took refuge

César Tembe said that the operation required four buses and four boats to take people back to Morrumbala district in Zambezia, and two trucks to transport goods.

According to the source, return kits containing cooking utensils and food have been prepared for at least 30 days, in a repatriation process that should last less than a week, the official said.

Malawi shares a vast border line with the Mozambican provinces of Tete, Zambezia in the center, and Niassa in the north.

At the time, Storm Ana killed at least 20 people, six of them in Tete, and displaced thousands of people in the country and in Malawi.