Assessing disaster risks in Alexandra township: Towards a disaster risk inventory
Date
2008-03-06T11:21:51Z
Authors
Mothapo, Maphoko Sarah
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Abstract
ABSTRACT
South Africa faces increasing levels of disaster risk. The country and citizens are
exposed to a wide range of weather hazards, including drought, cyclones and severe
storms that can trigger widespread hardship and devastation. The country’s extensive
coastline and proximity to shipping routes present further numerous marine and
coastal threats.
Despite ongoing progress to extend essential services to poor urban and rural
communities, large numbers of people live in conditions of chronic disaster
vulnerability. They are located-in underserved, ecologically fragile or marginal areas,
where they face recurrent natural and other threats that range from drought to repeated
informal settlement fires. Several literature on Disaster Risk Management identifies a
number of risk factors that people can be exposed to. These include:
· Proximity/exposure: people who occupy or, for their livelihoods depend on
areas of high hazard’s risk,
· Capacities and resources: people who have limited means and capacity to
mobilise them in order to increase their defences against hazard and
· Disadvantaged or marginalized people: people who are vulnerable due to
gender, race, ethnicity and class.
The assessment and evaluation of risk to a range of hazards therefore becomes a
necessity as it provides a sound basis for planning and for allocation of financial and
other resources, as well as designing interventions and future mitigation activities.
Valid and systematic information on disasters and their impacts has, however, not
been widely available within local development programmes. More often, information
pertaining to disaster risks is not available, and where it is, it is in fragmentary bits
usually derived from different sources and stored in different formats. These data
shortcomings have been to the obvious detriment of effective relief and mitigation,
both at international, national and local municipal levels. Alexandra Township,
located to the north of Johannesburg is facing a problem of a usable and
comprehensive disaster data inventory.
In this research report, an initial disaster inventory for Alexandra Township has been
undertaken. Available data on disasters that have occurred in Alexandra Township for
over the decade (1991-Aug 2005) are collected. These data are drawn from various
sources including newspaper clippings, community- based records, data from the Red
Cross, data from the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality and others. The
beginning of such an information gathering system is a basic requirement for a
coherent disaster programme.
While in no way as rigorous as the data capturing methods and systems as those
adopted in LA RED, South America or in MANDISA (University of Cape Town),
where the disaster capturing data systems are more advanced, this report begins to
illustrate some of the preliminary results that can be used to begin to develop an
effective data management system for Alexandra Township. Such data also should be
able to determine the detection of trends, that can begin to inform a more systematic
and rigorous identification of complex disaster risks in urban settings. Some of these
preliminary trends are profiled in this report.
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Keywords
disasters, South Africa, Alexandra township, disaster management