The KZN floods have been a devastating reminder that disaster planning and management is the business of everyone in a municipality (Credit: KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government)
How the disaster declaration
SUPPORTS LOCAL MUNICIPALITIES disaster has placed local food security at risk.
The National State of Disaster declared by government following the floods in KwaZulu-Natal is an opportunity for disaster management officials to leverage all levels of the state’s emergency capacity. There is also an important contribution to be made by the private sector in supporting government efforts by providing engineering, environmental and disaster risk reduction expertise. By Andries Fourie & Martin Stols
T
he scale of the recent KwaZuluNatal (KZN) floods and their consequences led to the announcement of a National – rather than municipal or provincial – State of Disaster in terms of Section 27 of the Disaster Management Act (No. 57 of 2002). For those municipalities affected, the declaration gives them access to not only local resources and contingencies, but to assistance from provincial and national departments. Local municipalities are supposed to have a Disaster Management Fund, but where this is insufficient – as is now clearly the case due to the scale and extent – they
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IMIESA May 2022
Rapid response
Andries Fourie, senior technologist: Disaster & Risk Management, SRK Consulting
Martin Stols, principal consultant, SRK Consulting
can draw resources from national and even international sources. This gives access to services that are often quite specialised, such as search-and-rescue teams. In this instance, the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) was deployed – and was expected to bring in expertise to assist with the immediate disaster response and recovery. There should even be capacity in the SANDF to build temporary bridges where structures have been washed away to ensure communities have physical access to services and markets. Opening up international channels of support could also contribute food assistance where the
A central concern in all disaster response plans is to return the affected areas and people to some form of normality as quickly as possible. There are particular issues that need rapid and effective responses, such as the provision of water and sanitation services. This is to avoid the potential knock-on effects of secondary impacts – like waterborne diseases – which prolong the recovery period. This makes close collaboration a vital element of success in any municipality’s disaster response. While the disaster management team at municipal level is expected to play an important coordinating role, it obviously does not actually repair roads, electricity cables or water pipes. It relies on the various operational units to fulfil these tasks – which are made more difficult by the disaster conditions. It should also be remembered that a disaster declaration comes with certain time-related constraints. Funds made available for the immediate phase following a disaster need to be spent within 60 days. This is separate from the longer-term recovery grant, which can be utilised over a longer period.
Mobilising funds Being an emergency situation, a quick response is invariably going to be more effective than a delayed one, provided that the action is appropriate and well planned. However, it is often difficult to mobilise funding rapidly if the processes in place are too onerous or bureaucratic. For instance, a normal tender process with its necessary checks and balances may take too long in the case of an emergency. At the same time,
