Manicaland rolls out robust Disaster Management Plan
MANICALAND has put together a Disaster Management Plan to strengthen the province’s preparedness and response capacity to natural disasters and rainy season-related emergencies, a Government official has said.
This comes as southern African meteorological experts have forecast more frequent extreme weather phenomena going into the future.
Due to its geographical location, each time cyclones and major tropical storms make landfall in Zimbabwe, Manicaland is often one of the most affected provinces in the country.
Speaking on the sidelines of a Ministry of Local Government and Public Works’ contingency planning meeting held in Mutare on Tuesday, acting Manicaland Provincial Director (Local Government Services and Administration), Mr John Misi said the frequency in natural disaster occurrences require proper and full preparation for the province to cope.
“Manicaland is prone to natural disasters like cyclones, landslides, flash floods and in some areas forest fires,” said Mr Misi.
“Accidents related to uncontrolled and illegal mining also contribute to the sad loss of lives. Our challenges as a province are further exacerbated by unplanned settlements on agricultural land and forests.
“This calls for adequate awareness, risk transfer mechanisms and high levels of preparedness and response capacities.
“The Ministry of Local Government and Public Works has made remarkable progress in putting in place a framework to provide the foundation of building communities’ resilience,” said Mr Misi.
He said Government is adopting a multi-stakeholder approach involving the public and private sectors as well as development partners to intensify coordinated efforts in disaster risk reduction and management.
Mr Misi said this requires collective and holistic implementation to strengthen the capacity for effective preparedness and efficient responses.
“By extending disaster management profiling and planning to local authority level, it reinforces the collective nature of disasters risk management and outlines a holistic approach to dealing with such.
“Plans have been instituted in schools in the province, with support from Higher Life Foundation, Care International and World Food Programme.
“We have also received support from the Department of Civil Protection, the Environmental Management Agency, the Ministry of Health and Child Care, Veterinary Services Department, Zimbabwe National Water Authority, the Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC), Anjin Mine, Red Cross Society of Zimbabwe and the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe, among others,” said Mr Misi.
Manicaland consolidated its Disaster Management Plan and contingency plans in June at local authority and district levels, added Mr Misi.
This saw 40 members of the Provincial Civil Protection Committee being trained in first aid, while community drills targeting village heads in Mutasa and Zimunya-Marange were also undertaken.
One hundred first responders were also trained in Makoni and Nyanga, targeting over 40 road traffic accident hotspots in the province.
Similar trainings are set to be conducted in Chimanimani next month.
Mr Misi said the provincial contingency plan is useful for Manicaland’s response planning purposes and will also contribute to the National Disaster Management and Contingency Plan that is already in place.