The Disaster Management Workshop hosted by the eThekwini Municipality’s Disaster Management Unit was a huge success. The workshop, in which 155 volunteers trained for disaster management were awarded with certificates of achievement by the Deputy Mayor, Cllr Nomvuzo Shabalala, was also attended by EXCO Members, Councillors and other experts in the Disaster Management field.
The main purpose of the workshop was to implement a proactive approach in an effort of dealing with disaster within the Municipality. “We cannot be reactive when disasters come,” said Deputy Mayor, Cllr Nomvuzo Shabalala, who also urged the Councillors and volunteers to advise their communities against building their homes in flood plains and other hazardous areas.
The workshop covered a wide range of issues from accomplishments to challenges that the City faces in terms of disaster, as well as dangers of fire, storms and man-made disasters. “These disasters can be prevented if we all put our hands together in dealing with them as the community and councillors”, said Cllr Shabalala. She highlighted that a close relationship between Human Settlements and Disaster Management is the key to eliminating these disasters.
The eThekwini Municipality has also made a lot of strides in an endeavour to minimise disasters and improve people’s lives. Among the steps taken is the development of three fully functional Disaster Management Centres to address and respond to disasters when they occur, employment of more staff to train communities on fire safety precautions and disaster management and training of volunteers from the communities to enable them to effectively handle various kinds of disasters. The Interim Services Programme will improve safety of our informal settlements and assistance will be given to people who become victims of disastrous climate conditions such as storms.
The eThekwini Municipality is also placing early warning signs to avoid disasters. Educational programmes will be top of the agenda among the Municipality’s strategies of minimising disasters.
