Disaster Management and Community Engagement – A Case Study – the Australia South Africa Local Governance Partnership (ASALGP) Disaster Management Project in KwaZulu-Natal

Peel P¹*

1. Pauline Peel Consulting, Fairfield, Queensland, Australia

The project was undertaken by the Australia South Africa Local Governance Partnership (ASALGP) in KwaZulu-Natal Province to support the implementation of the Disaster Management Act within that Province. Pauline Peel worked as the adviser based in the Provincial Government together with two District Municipalities.

“Developing countries are disproportionately affected by natural disasters, since they account for 90 per cent of the natural disasters and 95 per cent of all reported deaths arising from natural disasters……The primary concern in disaster management should be to break the downward spiral of impoverishment, and thus reduce the vulnerability of poor people to disasters.” (ref: “A Strategic Vision for Disaster Management in Southern Africa – Mr LJ Buys 14 October 2004)”

South Africa’s new Disaster Management Act calls for a cooperative and integrated approach to disaster management. It stresses that disaster management is not just about emergency response but also about being proactive in anticipating the types of disasters that may occur, planning ways of mitigating the disaster and ways to respond to and recover from disasters. The legislation is in line with international good practice and reflects the United Nations “risk reduction” approach.

The project in KwaZulu-Natal found that although the intentions of the legislation were laudable there were significant barriers to its successful implementation particularly in relation to:

• Capacity, knowledge and skills of provincial and local government;
• The relationship to poverty alleviation and access to basic services such as water, electricity, good housing
• An understanding of the role of the community (particularly the most vulnerable) in relation to mitigation, response and recovery
• And the critical relationship with traditional structures such as the traditional leaders

The case study will look at the lessons learned and the solutions proposed particularly in relation to engaging the community and traditional leaders.