Chronicle Editor
Sukulwenkosi Dube-Matutu, [email protected]
GWANDA District stakeholders met yesterday and agreed to review the district’s Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) plan so that the district is abreast with strategies to minimise the effects of disasters.
In an interview, Gwanda District Development Coordinator, Ms Nomathemba Ndlovu said the DRR plan has to be updated to be in line with the prevailing disasters which have changed over the years as a result of climate change.
Ms Ndlovu said the DRR plan also has to be aligned with the NDS1 and latest statistics like demographics and ward boundaries.
The DRR plan contains the district profile, hazards, vulnerability, capacity assessment and contingency plan.
“The DRR plan that we were using was adopted in 2018 and we are now in the process of reviewing it using a template that we got from the Department of Civil Protection,” said Ms Ndlovu.
She said the committee started working on the DRR plan in the last quarter of 2023.
“We have managed to collect all the relevant information from various sectors and we are in the process of consolidating it to come up with one document,” said Ms Ndlovu.
She said the agreed position now is to review the plan annually so that it remains relevant.
Ms Ndlovu said having an updated disaster risk reduction plan helps the District Civil Protection Committee to come up with required resources in the event of a disster.
She said once the possible disasters have been identified, the district engages relevant stakeholders on effective strategies to minimise the effects in the event of a disaster.
“We have to be prepared to respond promptly to disasters. For example, Gwanda urban is prone to fires and we should know how many fire tenders we have and how many ambulances?” said Ms Ndlovu.
She said the DRR plan also speaks to the adaptive measures that communities have to take in case of disasters.
Ms Ndlovu said this helps to prepare communities in case of disasters and also empowers them to mitigate the effects.
She said some disasters can be mitigated and prevented at community level.
The identified priority sectors impacted by disasters include agriculture (crop and livestock), social services (health), Wash, education, mining, environment and infrastructure.
Identified hazards include a shortage of water, climate stressors, epidemics and diseases, livestock diseases, drugs and substance abuse, land degradation, road traffic accidents and mine accidents. —@DubeMatutu
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