KZN disaster management needs better co-ordination, say experts

FOLLOWING the April 2022 floods and the more recent June 3 tornado that devastated several suburbs on the KwaZulu-Natal North Coast, the province's disaster management plan has once again come under scrutiny.

There are loud calls for a more unified and co-ordinated approach to deal with such disasters.

The Gift of the Giver’s Bilal Jeewa claimed the KZN disaster management team only arrived on the ground, a day after the tornado hit.

“Our response time was almost immediate and we were greeted by utter devastation and carnage. At the time there were not many other interventions to assist those who had been displaced or injured by the tornado,” said Jeewa.

He said they spent many days working in Tongaat and surrounding areas.

“Hours after the disaster, there were teams working all over the place. It was difficult to connect with one another because there was no network. This meant we also did not know what resources were available. The KZN disaster management team arrived the day after the tornado.

“At that point, they should have made a co-ordinated rescue effort to ensure all service providers were rowing in the same direction. I saw IPSS emergency services and a few other emergency teams but we were all working in silos. There was no co-ordination by the disaster management team to brief on what relief efforts were needed. We basically did our own thing.”

The April 2022 floods claimed over 400 lives. Twelve people died in the tornado.

Life Saving South Africa’s voluntary president, Daya Sewduth, echoed the same sentiment as Jeewa.

Sewduth said: “It would be great if the local government formulated a plan which brought together all response teams during a disaster rather than us working in isolated pockets.”

He also encouraged the government to include a range of stakeholders and other rescue organisations as part of a co-ordinated disaster management plan.

“This unified approach will go a long way in ensuring victims of disasters get the help they require quickly. The Western Cape is a fantastic example of how the government has roped in entities like Life Saving SA and the NSRI during disasters like the floods,” Sewduth added.

He said a proactive approach to mitigate flood-related deaths would be to evacuate residents living along river banks and floodplains as quickly as possible because they stood little or no chance against heavy flooding.

“We have also advocated for the prevention of habitat encroachment of floodplains. People living in these areas are literally washed away by the force of the water during a flood.

“South Africa’s life-saving capabilities are of a high standard but it is almost impossible to reach people in these areas during a flood. This contributes significantly to the death toll during these disasters,” he said.

Jace Govender, a rescue volunteer for over 20 years, also agreed that evacuating floodplains and river banks was crucial to saving lives.

“We have fantastic early warning systems in place in the country and province. Our weather service relays the information quickly for all authorities and emergency responders to receive it.

“We also have dedicated groups like the NSRI and Life Saving SA which are capable and trained to go into situations that require swift water rescues.

“However, along most of the major rivers in our province, are communities living there. When these rivers overflow, homes are easily washed away. If they could be relocated, the death toll would not be so high,” Govender added.

The eThekwini Municipality spokesperson, Gugu Sisilana, said the Disaster Management Act 57 of 2002 dictated the city’s response plans and efforts.

Given the recent bad weather in Durban, Sisilana said the municipality had developed a climate action plan to

deal with the changing climate.

“The Disaster Management Act 57 of 2002 (DMA) is the primary legislation dealing with disaster management in the country. This act provides for an integrated and co-ordinated disaster management policy that focuses on: prevention; mitigation; emergency preparedness; rapid and effective response; and post-disaster recovery.”

She said from the recent storms in Durban, it was evident that business as usual was no longer an option.

“There is an urgency to do things differently in order to transform our city. To address the need for rapid transformation, the city, with support from C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, has developed a climate action plan (Cap) that builds on the 2015 Durban Climate Change Strategy.

“The goal of the plan is to ramp up ambition and action that is required to limit global temperature increases to 1.5°C, and thereby limit impacts facing our more vulnerable communities.

“The Cap was adopted by the council in 2019. It is an ambitious plan that

focuses on local need for action and due response from the city. We plan to broadly share its story of developing the Cap, through the compiled “Learning Journey: Durban Climate Action Plan”.

“This document, done in partnership with the Municipal Institute of Learning, highlights some of the lessons learnt, and challenges encountered by the climate team in city-level climate-action planning,” Sisilana said.

In terms of ensuring a unified response effort during disasters, Sisilana said the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) was responsible for planning while the municipalities acted with its resources.

“The city takes the lead from the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, and this ensures effective distribution of resources, coherent approach to efficient planning for mitigation, and effective response to emergencies and disasters,” she said.

Msunduzi Municipality spokesperson Ntobeko Mkhize said they were in the process of consolidating and implementing

a range of risk-mitigating strategies in line with act, No 57 of 2002.

This included a comprehensive disaster management contingency plan, capacity building workshops with ward councillors and traditional authorities on their role and functionality, wardbased risk mitigation which involved mapping out evacuation centres should there be any threat and actual displacements of households, mapping of roads and bridge infrastructure against flood plains, and communicating with affected communities through the awareness campaign programme, and the clearing of storm-water channels in collaboration with waste and technical services.

“In an effort towards co-ordination of social relief, the disaster management unit has developed terms of reference constituting the disaster management technical working group to strengthen disaster risk governance by improving co-ordination and integration, as highlighted by lessons learnt across different experiences,” Mkhize said.

Cogta in KwaZulu-Natal did not respond to emailed questions.

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