adminNyasha Mapasa Manicaland Correspondent
Civil society groups have urged Government to prioritise disaster preparedness to avoid the loss of lives. This was part of submissions that Non-governmental organisations made during the 2020 National Budget consultations conducted by the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Finance and Budget.
National Association of Non-Governmental Organisations (NANGO Eastern) Regional Coordinator, Joseph Tonderai Kauzani said it was essential for Government to prioritise disaster management skills in all the country’s 10 provinces.
These sentiments follow the lack of preparedness by the country to deal with the cyclone Idai disaster, which struck Manicaland in March and resulted in the loss of hundreds of lives, homes and livestock.
Mutasa district was also hit by a hailstorm last month, which destroyed infrastructure worth thousands of dollars in schools and swept away several homes.
“Communities should be given relevant information on time to mitigate against the loss of human life in the event of a disaster. As part of its disaster risk programming, Government should start by mapping high risk areas which are prone to natural disasters and then embark on awareness campaigns.
“In the submissions that we made, we also recommended that some of the devolution funds should be used for the construction of evacuation centres at provincial level,” said Mr Kauzani.
Green Governance Zimbabwe Trust executive director Frank Mphalo also urged Government to consider disaster risk programming as a matter of urgency.
“Climate change is real and is as a threat to human livelihood, therefore Government through its relevant arms should prepare communities to the realities of climate change, particularly young people. Recently, St Augustine’s High School suffered heavy infrastructure losses in a hailstorm. This serves as an indicator towards the need to seriously prioritise disaster preparedness,” he said.
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