Planning and awareness is key to disaster risk reduction
13 October 2023
As part of various activities to celebrate the United Nations International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction, the City’s Disaster Risk Management Centre(DRMC) hosted a seminar today at the Civic Centre, Cape Town to increase awareness and share knowledge that will improve risk reduction planning.
This year, the theme of International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction is Fighting inequality for a resilient future with the focus on the reciprocal relationship between disasters and inequality.
Using the Covid-19 pandemic as a case study, discussions focused on how the impacts of the world-wide pandemic has pushed impoverished communities into deeper need, leaving them more exposed to the impact of food security and poverty.
The seminar was well attended by representatives from the Western Cape Provincial Government, City officials, NGOs, private sector and humanitarian partners.
The seminar focused on the following key components:
- Cape Town in context - a socio-economic overview
- Importance of food security
- Epidemiological perspective and how poverty and urban health play an important role in thinking about risk, poverty and food
- Importance of neighbourhood resilience assessment and building cohesion
- Enhancing community preparedness which included disaster planning, community base risk assessments and humanitarian efforts
In addition to the above, participants discussed the ever increasing impact of climate change as it is likely to make weather events more frequent and more extreme.
Food insecurity and inequality often creates conditions of increased exposure to disasters which then affect the most vulnerable groups in communities. It is for this reason that there should be an awareness and knowledge shared on the above issues.
As part of the activities to celebrate the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction, the DRMC will also be hosting a Youth Climate Change programme with a NGO in Mitchells Plain called L&C Community Outreach Programme. The event will take place at the Rondevlei Nature Reserve on Saturday, 14 October 2023.
'Our Disaster Risk Management Centre plays an important role in planning to reduce the risk of disasters and facilitating humanitarian assistance during disasters and extreme weather conditions. It is important to have systems in place to assist those in need. Climate change has shown to increase the unpredictability of severe and life threatening storms. We need to be prepared to deal with such extreme weather conditions. Reducing the risk of disasters is everybody's business and we should all work together to assist the most vulnerable in our communities,' said the City's Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, Alderman JP Smith.
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Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office
