Chronicle Editor
Nqobile Tshili, Chronicle Correspondent
Government yesterday said the Department of Public Works is compiling statistics on the damage caused by hailstorms across the country since the beginning of the rainy season, but indications are that schools are the worst affected.
In an interview, Civil Protection Unit (CPU) director Mr Nathan Nkomo said natural disasters were now a threat to the country’s development.
He said his department could not immediately quantify the extent of damages that have been caused by hailstorms so far although the damage could run into millions of dollars.
“These things are ongoing, each time we receive some heavy downpours, quite a number of structures usually succumb to such heavy rains. We have even asked the Public Works Department, those are the guys who can give us official figures, who can do the costing exercise,” he said.
“They are working all those figures so that we also know for the purposes of assessing how much we have been affected in terms of our development gains. All the gains we have made it look like they are being threatened by these disasters.”
Mr Nkomo said observations by the CPU show that schools are among the institutions worst affected.
“Building structures at schools should be constantly inspected to avoid using sub-standard material to avoid incurring costs through repairs. Most damaged structures were not matching the minimum required building codes,” he said.
Mr Nkomo said fuel challenges are hindering the Public Works Department from accessing some affected areas for assessment.
He said the CPU had recommended the relocation of Hingwe Primary School in Buliima District, Matabeleland South, which had most of its infrastructure damaged by the hailstorms.
Mr Nkomo said the social impact of the destruction rains is that some communities were left food needy while their properties were also damaged needing aid.—@nqotshili
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