The ManicaPost
A DISASTER is a sudden, calamitous event that seriously disrupts the functioning of a community and causes human, material, economic or environmental losses exceeding a particular community’s ability to cope with its own resources.
Though often caused by nature, disasters also have human origins.
Zimbabwe is vulnerable to an assortment of natural and man-made disasters like floods, storms, cyclones and droughts that have compromised the resilience of victims.
Disasters have deleterious effects on people’s lives, causing loss of life and livelihoods as well as loss and damage of property and infrastructure.
Fresh in our minds is Cyclone Idai, a flood-induced catastrophe that struck the eastern parts of Manicaland in March 2019.
It affected at least 270 000 people, left about 340 people dead and many more missing.
Agriculture, schools, health institutions and infrastructure were all decimated.
Thousands lost their homes and are still grappling with the psychological effects stemming from the disaster.
We are in November, and summer, which is associated with a multiplicity of these disasters, is with us.
More interestingly, President Mnangagwa this week joined other leaders from the rest of the world at the Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland to put the world on a path to aggressively cut greenhouse gas emissions and slow global warming.
Back home, we need to learn from the previous disasters and strengthen our disaster risk management responses.
The Department of Civil Protection (DCP), under the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works administers the Civil Protection Act, with Disaster Risk Management (DRM), which entails a spectrum of activities involving prevention, mitigation of disaster risks, preparedness planning, timely early warning and response to rehabilitate affected elements as its key result area.
DCP must be strengthen and capacitated to put in place measures to reduce and prevent, whenever possible, adverse impacts of disasters on communities while ensuring that humanitarian protection and assistance needs are met through timely and multi-sector interventions.
Our nasty Cyclone Idai experience has shown us that key policies and agencies need urgent improvement to frame more proactive disaster risk management, stronger social protection systems, funding and devolved implementation structures.
Better settlement system regulations are also critical for us to deal effectively with future climate-induced risks.
Our institutions were stretched by the emergency, exposing capacity and policy gaps in coordination of civil and social protection, humanitarian assistance, development planning and management as well as settlement and land policies.
Studies done in the aftermath of the disaster show that key agencies tasked with Disaster Risk Management need adequate capacity and resources, including for research and core equipment to gather the knowledge necessary to understand and prepare for the disasters to which we are prone.
Participatory hazard profiling helps build local preparedness and capacity and anchors sustainable (hazard-resilient) development while a dedicated fund for disaster responses becomes more useful if it is viable, ring-fenced and transparently run.
Other recommendations include the need for clear funding for disaster risk assessments and analysis; finalising the DRM policy; legislation and organisational structures; setting up decentralised ‘corps’ of trained DRM volunteers; investing in adaptive and resilience-building measures to protect women and other vulnerable groups; strengthening rural and urban settlement and infrastructure regulatory regimes as well as setting up social and child protection systems that are sensitive to disaster situations.
Though the national disaster risk management plan exists at the district level, findings showed that effective early warning systems and effective disaster preparedness activities are derailed by lack of adequate financial resources.
Furthermore, the rising humanitarian needs force families to move and at times adopt negative coping mechanisms, thereby increasing protection risks faced by women and children in particular.
While moving from one place to the other, women and children are especially vulnerable, facing risks of exploitation and harassment which may include sexual assault and other forms of gender-based violence (GBV).
This leads to acute and longer-term consequences on the health and well-being of individuals and their communities.
