- i - DECLARATION I Peter Emmanuel Mayanja Ddungu declare that this research report is my own work. It is being submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Public Health at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. It has not been submitted before, in whole, or in part for any degree or examination at this or any other University. ??????????????????????????.. Peter Emmanuel Mayanja Ddungu 7th Day of October 2008. - ii - DEDICATION To my late parents Justin and Marjorie Ddungu ? forever grateful for your example, provision and inspiration. To my beloved wife Elizabeth and children (Tendo, Suubi and Mulungi) ? for your abiding support and the privilege of growing together. To my Heavenly Father ? eternally grateful for new mercies every morning and your great faithfulness. - iii - ABSTRACT Disasters are events that cause death, injury or disease, damage to property, damage to the environment and disrupt the life of the community. The majority of South Africa?s population lives in fragile and vulnerable conditions due to high levels of poverty, low standards of living and lack of access to resources. The risk of further disaster occurrences is increased by population growth outstripping available residential, agricultural, commercial and industrial development leading to occupation of ?at risk? areas such as flood plains. Furthermore South Africa?s extensive coastline and proximity to shipping routes present various meteorological and marine threats. The Disaster Management Act, 2002 (No. 57 of 2002) was promulgated in January 2003 and seeks to focus on disaster risk reduction and prevention. Among other things, the Act requires every sphere of government to develop disaster management plans. It is not clear how much progress has been made by local government in Gauteng province in this regard. A cross-sectional descriptive survey was conducted to evaluate the disaster management function of municipalities in Gauteng province as at February 2008. The study aim was broken down into three study objectives; a) to determine the availability of disaster management plans; b) to determine the degree of compliance of each disaster management plan to the standard required by the Act and c) to determine the disaster management capacity of each municipality. A questionnaire was forwarded at least two weeks before Key informant interviews with designated disaster managers were conducted. Following each interview a physical site inspection of each Disaster Management Centre was carried out and assessed against a uniform check list. All six metropolitan and district municipalities were evaluated with no abstention. The key findings of the study were that; ? 66.7% (four out of six municipalities) had approved disaster management plans. The remaining two had draft plans. All the plans were level 1 disaster management plans. ? In terms of compliance of the disaster management plans, the municipalities scored between 65.6% - 84.4% with an overall average score for Gauteng province at 75%. ? In terms of capacity to carry out their disaster management function; the municipalities ranged from 35.5% - 78% with the overall average for Gauteng province at 65.6%. Significantly Metsweding district municipality was the only municipality in Gauteng province without a Disaster Management Centre. - iv - The study made the following recommendations; ? The National Disaster Management Centre and subsequently the Provincial Disaster Management Centre need to develop a Remedial plan of action with new time frames for the development of level 3 disaster management plans that are realistic. The Remedial plan of action should prioritize which objectives and Key Performance Indicators in the Disaster Risk Management Framework are deliverable in the immediate term, the medium term and over the long term. ? The establishment of a Disaster Management Centre for Metsweding district municipality. This will require that the municipality engages with the Provincial and National Disaster management Centres about the allocation of a conditional grant to fund start up costs as provided for in the Disaster Risk Management Framework (Enabler 3 ? funding arrangements). ? The National and Provincial Disaster Management Centres need to provide guidelines on the standards/norms for the staffing requirements of a Disaster Management Centre as well as the physical infrastructure requirements of a Municipal Disaster Management Centre. - v - ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to acknowledge and thank the following people and organizations for their assistance in the successful completion of this project: ? Prof Shan Naidoo, my supervisor for his guidance, encouragement and support throughout the course of this study. ? The Executive Heads of Disaster Management for Ekurhuleni metropolitan municipality, City of Johannesburg, City of Tshwane, Metsweding district municipality, Sedibeng district municipality and Westrand district municipality for granting permission to conduct this study. ? BF Swart (Ekhuruleni); N Mekgwe, M Joubert, M Wilton (City of Johannesburg); A Bruwer, S Nkosi, T Coetzer (City of Tshwane); J Kgalake (Metsweding); P Niewenhuizen (Sedibeng) and J Jordan, W Myburgh (Westrand); the disaster management professionals whose time and expertise made this research possible. ? My caring and loving wife, Elizabeth for her unstinting support and encouragement. Our children Tendo, Suubi and Mulungi whose time I massively encroached on to complete this project. - vi - TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE DECLARATION i DEDICATION ii ABSTRACT iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS viii LIST OF FIGURES ix LIST OF TABLES x LIST OF APPENDICES xi CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION, LITERATURE REVIEW, AIMS AND OBJECTIVES. 1.0 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Disasters as a global problem 1 1.2 Disasters as a South African problem 4 1.3 The role of local government in disaster management 6 1.4 Significance of the study 7 1.5 Study Aim 8 1.6 Objectives of the study 8 1.7 CONCLUSION 8 CHAPTER TWO: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY. 2.0 INTRODUCTION 9 2.1 Research design 9 2.2 Study population 9 2.3 Data collection 10 2.4 Data analysis 10 2.5 Reliability and validity 11 2.6 Ethical considerations 11 2.7 CONCLUSION 11 - vii - CHAPTER THREE: THE STUDY RESULTS 3.0 INTRODUCTION 12 3.1 Profile of the study population 12 3.2 Availability of Disaster management plans 14 3.3 Compliance of Disaster management plans with the Act 15 3.4 Disaster management capacity in municipalities. 16 3.5 Comparison between Metropolitan and District municipalities 19 3.6 CONCLUSION 19 CHAPTER FOUR: DISCUSSION, MAIN FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, LIMITATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS. 4.0 INTRODUCTION 22 4.1 Discussion, main findings, conclusions 22 4.2 Limitations of the study 27 4.3 Recommendations 28 4.4 CONCLUSION 30 5.0 REFERENCES 31 6.0 APPENDICES 35 - viii - LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CRED Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters DMC Disaster Management Centre DMP Disaster Management Plan GDP Gross Domestic Product KPA Key Performance Area KPI Key Performance Indicator MDMC Municipal Disaster Management Centre MMC Municipal Mayoral Committee MOU Memorandum of Understanding NDMC National Disaster Management Centre NDMF National Disaster Management Framework PDMC Provincial Disaster Management Centre PPO Project Portfolio Office UN/ISDR United Nations ? International Strategy for Disaster Reduction WHO World Health Organization - ix - LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1.1 Trend of reported natural disasters; 1975-2007 2 1.2 Human impact by disaster types; 2000-2007 2 1.3 Geographical distribution of deaths 2000-2007 3 1.4 Annual reported economic losses from natural disasters 3 3.1 Demographic details for Gauteng province 12 3.2 Percentage compliance by Municipality 15 3.3 Percentage compliance by Criteria 16 3.4 Disaster management capacity by Municipality 16 3.5 Disaster management capacity by Criteria 17 3.6 Disaster management centre infrastructure 18 3.7 Disaster management centre infrastructure by function 19 3.8 Metropolitan vs District municipality ? Compliance 20 3.9 Metropolitan vs District municipality ? Capacity 21 - x - LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1.1 Economic cost of some disasters ? South Africa 5 3.1 Area, Population and Population density of 13 Provinces in South Africa ? 2001. 3.2 Population of Gauteng province by Municipality ? 2007 14 3.3 Disaster Management Centre infrastructure 18 - xi - LIST OF APPENDICES Appendix Page A: Evaluation tool for the evaluation of the disaster 35 Management function of Municipalities. B: Check List for the evaluation of Municipal 36 Disaster management centers. C: Schedule of interviews with Disaster managers 37 D: Approval by Postgraduate committee of the School of 38 Public Health ? University of the Witwatersrand E: Clearance certificate from the Human Research Ethics 40 Committee ? University of the Witwatersrand F: Letter of Permission ? Ekurhuleni metropolitan 41 Municipality G: Letter of Permission ? City of Johannesburg 42 Metropolitan municipality H: Letter of Permission ? City of Tshwane 43 Metropolitan municipality I: Letter of Permission ? Metsweding District 44 Municipality J: Letter of Permission ? Sedibeng District 45 Municipality K: Letter of Permission ? Westrand District 46 Municipality L: Participant information sheet & Informed consent form 47