City facilitates emergency preparedness workshop for places of worship
17 August 2024
The Disaster Risk
Management Centre regularly facilitates emergency planning interventions for a
range of institutions, facilities and communities. Recently, it was approached
by the Muslim Judicial Council (MJC) for a specific intervention for mosques, following
a shooting incident at the Brooklyn Mosque in July
The workshop, hosted in Athlone, focused on imparting specific skills and information to participants to help them handle emergency situations.
This included emergency response protocols, evacuation procedures, and ways to mitigate risks during various crises, with a specific emphasis on the need for proactive disaster response planning and coordination. Participants were also encouraged to establish health and safety committees at their respective facilities, with tasks assigned to specific representatives, in the event of an emergency.
The South African Police Service outlined its response strategies to emergencies, the Western Cape Government's Emergency Medical Services addressed the issue of emergency training, like first aid, and the City's Disaster Risk Management Centre presented on the importance of emergency planning for places of worship.
'The frequency, scale and type of disasters or emergencies we face has increased and evolved over time. Some are natural, but more and more we experience the impact of man-made risks, like the one that prompted the MJC to call for this workshop. The information exchanged and any future planning and risk mitigation work that happens, will put facilities in a much stronger position to respond to the potential threats, and reduce the risk to lives and property.
'While one hopes that the worst possible scenario never pans out, it is best to be prepared and know exactly what to do, than to have no plan at all, and put lives at risk as a result. Our Disaster Risk Management Centre facilitates hundreds of risk assessments and emergency planning exercises every year, in the interest of public safety,' said Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, Alderman JP Smith.
Between April and June 2024, the Disaster Risk Management Centre facilitated 118 risk assessment and emergency planning sessions at facilities like schools, old age homes, clinics and business premises, and also facilitated 21 sessions at critical infrastructure complexes and major hazard installations.
End
Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office
