Floods in northern parts of country no surprise for AfriForum

AfriForum has long warned against the poor maintenance of stormwater drainage systems in towns and surrounding areas, the importance of risk assessment in preparation for floods and municipalities’ negligence in securing vulnerable areas in a timely manner against floods and heavy rain. All this ultimately comes down to having an effective disaster management plan, emphasises AfriForum.

The total inability of municipalities to effectively implement disaster management was once again strongly highlighted in the past week’s heavy rain in the north of the country where numerous roads were washed away and people were trapped or had to be rescued – all while local authorities remain slow, disorganised and often completely inactive.

Parts of Gauteng, North West, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State were under water this week.

Most municipal disaster management offices in the country are out of order. They either don’t have the resources to assist on scenes, they don’t know how to assist or there is no disaster management plan.

“A municipality without a disaster management plan is like a ship without a rudder – when the storm comes, chaos is inevitable. Municipalities’ inability to mitigate and manage disasters is not just negligence but a direct threat to communities’ safety and survival. It is crucial that communities help each other and stand together in times of need rather than waiting for an invisible and unreliable government,” says Tarien Cooks, Disaster Management Specialist at AfriForum.

The disaster management legislation provides for municipalities’ disaster management departments to make use of volunteers to assist during disasters, but most municipalities do not have any volunteers in this regard. Volunteers are usually residents of a town or city who are trained in various fields including first aid, firefighting and search and rescue. The more people know how to respond during a disaster, the easier it is for a community to be resilient.