The recent heavy rains, which claimed at least 10 lives, have once more underlined the urgent need for the country to appraise its weather disaster readiness.
This week the rains, which affected much of the country — including Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, the North West and the Free State — also caused damage to property and infrastructure.
By now we have had sufficient warning by scientists that, due to climate change, severe weather events, including tornadoes, are set to increase in both frequency and severity. So far, KwaZulu-Natal has shown itself to be among the most vulnerable provinces, with more than its fair share of such disasters over the last few years.
A failure to take steps now will only lead to more loss of lives and damage to property
Given the new reality, we need to do all we can to mitigate the risk to people’s lives and property.
One way is to institute stricter regulations to ensure not only the provision of residential settlements in approved locations with proper drainage, but to prevent people from settling informally in places that are vulnerable to flooding. It would mean bringing under control the settlements free-for-all that characterises many parts of the country.
Second, we should strengthen and broaden our early warning systems, exploiting available scientific knowledge and expertise. This would require citizens to bear part of the responsibility by taking weather warnings to heart instead of simply ignoring them. Or leaving the problem to the authorities exclusively.
However, all efforts will be of limited effect without a proper public education system about the new weather patterns and the precautions that citizens should take to mitigate the growing weather and climate risks.
A failure to take steps now will only lead to more loss of lives and damage to property.
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