Communities key to a safer future in dealing with major disasters
DISASTERS are costly and leave behind a trail of destruction that have far-reaching consequences. The reality is that disasters have no boundaries, and are not selective about who is affected. Local communities are the first to experience the ruthless impact and turmoil as it unfolds.
Also, risk is constant in every society but the nature and extent of the risks vary from society to society. It is common knowledge that the poorest of the poor are most at risk and endure immense suffering at the hands of disaster. The critical question that emerges is: “What is the relationship between poverty and disaster?”
Interestingly enough, South Africa has made tremendous strides in the area of disaster management through the proclamation of the Disaster Management Act. This significant legislation has received global recognition as being progressive and effective in setting a strong foundation towards achieving the global goals on disaster risk reduction.
The major concerns around the state of disaster readiness in South Africa is the lack of political commitment and leadership in promoting a risk reduction agenda. The usual practice is to wait and see what happens.
Only when disaster occurs is there a buzz of activities. It becomes politicised with various political parties appearing in camera co-ordinating and pledging disaster relief and response provisions.
It is evident that with global warming and the current experiences across the world, the frequency and scale of disasters are becoming more regular, intense and complex to manage.
This is further aggravated by the deep-seated social ills that result in widening the poverty gap, increasing societal risk to disaster. The lack of effective pro-active disaster preparedness, prevention and risk reduction measures to create safer, resilient and sustainable communities is disillusioning. Especially against the backdrop of understanding the cost and impact associated with disasters, and the long term cost-benefit analysis to pro-actively engage in disaster risk reduction.
Drought and water scarcity conditions have plagued our country since 2014/2015. These devastating conditions persisted in Western Cape, some parts of the Eastern Cape and Northern Cape provinces with pockets of drought occuring in all of the other provinces.
In 2018, South Africa experienced one of the longest-lasting droughts ever recorded. The government declared it a national disaster and introduced several measures to reduce the consumption of water. Some regions had high temperatures with little rainfall since 2015. Crops failed, livestock were lost and much wildlife perished.
Cape Town encountered harsh water restrictions and came close to Day Zero.
Floods are generally caused by storms that are often accompanied by heavy rain. Water accumulates on the ground surface and steadily flows into homes and buildings, creating havoc and disruption within communities. Families living in low-lying areas and those residing in informal dwellings close to the roadways; drainage channelling, on steep slopes and near riverbanks are most affected.
The flood experienced in Durban during the Easter weekend of April 2019 caused great damage to approximately 235 homes, washed roads and bridges disrupting traffic making it difficult to get prompt help to victims and at least 51 fatality cases were recorded. Informal settlements in Durban were the worst hit areas leaving many displaced families. The interim report tabled at the eThekwini Metro following the flooding in Durban estimated the cost of repair to far exceed R650m.
The extent of damage to infrastructure included flooded and blocked roads, collapsed buildings and perimeter walls, blocked stormwater drains and sewer lines, flooded buildings and households and power outages as a result of electric cable damage.
The above realities raise many concerns around the consequences of disaster on the most vulnerable communities, the environment, the economy and development efforts by government.