Ignorance is not bliss

This week sees some of the world’s top experts in the field of disaster management gathering at StendenSA for the International Emergency Management Society’s annual conference.

We intend to share more from this very significant meeting of minds and hands-on-skills happening right here on our doorstep.

Chair Harald Drager explained that each annual conference focused on the experts and issues of the region where the conference was held. Thus, many of the experts presenting at this week’s conference have hands-on experience of SA and southern African issues.

One of those speaking from first-hand experience was the chair of the fourmillion-member North West Umbrella Fire Protection Association.

He outlined the reality of state-based emergency response capacity and described the degree to which communities particularly but not only in rural areas had needed to take on the protection of not only private property and citizens’ lives, but even state-owned resources.

Post-1994 administrative boundaries were still out of synch with the allocation of resources and responsibilities that still aligned with old apartheid structures and territories.

A further way in which politics and bureaucracy failed to serve communities was cross-border fire prevention: many of the association’s members live and work close to the Botswana border.

In a different presentation, University of Botswana academic Dithapelo Keorapetse spoke on the chilling effect that a six-month state of emergency during the Covid-19 pandemic had on that country’s democracy.

What emerged again and again was the importance of community preparedness for disasters.

Another Botswanabased expert speaking about disaster management in Ghana emphasised that disaster preparedness is an essential part of disaster management: “That is what saves lives.”

Stenden SA dean Wouter Hensens described the hosting of the prestigious international event as a milestone for the institution.

The opening day was the anniversary of 9/11 the terrorist attack on the World Trade Towers in New York. He said disaster management had taken off as a profession following that attack.

“In our research, we identified a huge gap in skills in disaster management not just in SA, but across the continent,” Hensens said.

Since StendenSA started the course more than a decade ago, the programme had grown both in enrolments and professional stature.

Congratulations to BUCO for supporting local artists in sponsoring the marvellous whale tail on the roof of the Port Alfred River & Ski Boat Club.

We look forward to more support from the business community for creative projects in and around Port Alfred.

Congratulations, too, to the organisers and various hosts of the RMB University Boat Race 2023.

It’s a fantastic event that deserves to be supported by locals.

And by the way, it’s great entertainment!