A coordinated response needed to attend to disasters - Gift of the Givers

A coordinated response is needed to better the response to the needs of the vulnerable in an event of disasters. This is the view of NGO, Gift of the Givers.

‘’This country is prone to disasters – floods, drought, tornado, fires – and when it comes to disaster response there is not a single department taking full control. It is always shifted from one department to the next. There is no centralization to say it is declared a disaster, this one department will take control e.g. seeing that there is a 100 000 people affected, we will have a warehouse packed with necessities, we have accommodation plans in place for people that are affected now,’’ said Ali Sablay, Gift of the Givers project coordinator, who spoke on Bush Radio’s Everyday people programme on Monday.

‘’That is what emergency is about. Emergency means rapid reaction and this means assisting those as quickly as possible. How do you tell a child or grandmother, we cannot assist you because of lack of resources. No, we do not want that reaction. What we want is to say that disaster plans can be implemented if you have the right plans in place. The worst part is the poor and destitute that are suffering and we experience it first hand on the ground,’’ he added.

PHOTO: Facebook - Gift of the Givers

Sablay expressed gratitude to the Disaster Risk management Centre, but raised concerns about the delay once the help has been requested.

‘’Once a report is given on how many people are affected, then there is a delay. All the red tape that takes place, as it goes through different departments for approval, and our work does not stop there. The sad part is the number of people affected by the current storm increases.’’

Sablay reflected on the recent storm that wreaked havoc in the Western cape.

‘’It caused total destruction, since the storm began last Sunday. You can see the extensive damage in informal settlements. Our first point of call was in ward 99 in Khayelitsha where close to 4 000 people were displaced and two weeks ago, excessive gale force winds blew away nearly 800 informal structures.’’

‘’On day one of the inclement weather, we were inundated with calls as residents in informal settlements pleaded for assistance, We sent our teams on the ground for the necessary assessment and last Sunday, when we done our humanitarian aid, we saw it was over 15 000 people affected on Day 1. Our teams assisted those in informal settlements on the Cape Flats, with hot meals, blankets, personal hygiene packs, baby packs, and we also replaced two wheelchairs. Our operations are ongoing and we will carry on for the next few days,’’ he told Everyday people’s Lerato Mashile.

He says the challenge the NGO is facing is the running out of supplies.

‘’Our supplies could not meet our demand. Literally, all the blankets in the Western Cape were handed out. We had to pull in additional resources from other warehouses in other provinces. We also had issues with accessibility to roads – in some of the areas, where it was either washed away or it was too dangerous. Although we wanted to deliver the goods, it was a challenge; Another challenge is not being at all the places at the same time. If it is 15 informal settlements calling you on the same day, and you have so many team members that toy have to split up. Our teams sometimes working from 7a.m to 1a.m the next day trying to assist the communities.’’

Sablay called on community members to assist by donating items such as blankets, personal hygiene packs, baby packs, non-perishable food items, amongst others.

 

Done By: Mitchum George