MEC for CoGHSTA in Limpopo, Ishmael Kgetjepe,
Executive Mayor David Magabe and Mayors of Local Municipalities,
Speakers, MMCs, Chief Whips and Councillors present,
Our host, Kgosigadi Ntwampe,
Deputy Chairperson: NHTL, Kgosi Makgeru,
Chairperson: PHTL, Kgosi Dikgale,
Deputy Chairperson: PHTL, Kgosi Chauke,
Kgosigolo KK Sekhukhune, All Traditional Leaders present,
Head of the National Disaster Management Centre, Mr Ken Terry,
Sector Departments and Partner Institutions,
Distinguished guests,
Programme Director,
It is an honour for me to be in your mist today to deliver this keynote address at this occasion which showcases the empowerment of our communities through the celebration of the International Day for Disaster Reduction, under the auspices of the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR.)
The UN/ISDR is a global focal point for disaster risk reduction. It is a system that promotes partnerships of a broad range of actors, all of which have essential roles to play in supporting nations and communities to reduce their disaster risks in pursuit of sustainable development objectives.
These partners include governments, inter-governmental and non-governmental organisations, international financial institutions, scientific and technical bodies and specialised networks as well as civil society and the private sector.
South Africa takes part in the UN/ISDR programmes and its participation is marked by, inter alia, the commemoration of the International Day for Disaster Reduction. The International Day for Disaster Reduction started in 1989 with the approval by the United Nations General Assembly, which regards the International Day for Disaster Reduction as a way to promote a global culture of disaster reduction, including disaster prevention, mitigation and preparedness.
The International Day for Disaster Reduction is a day to celebrate how people and communities are reducing their risk to disasters and raising awareness about the importance of disaster risk reduction. It is also a day to encourage every citizen and government to take part in building more disaster resilient communities and nations.
Our achievement of these efforts as a country ladies and gentlemen, depend on our commitment to put in place and implement measures and interventions that are aimed at reducing disaster risk as a concern for poverty reduction and sustainable development.
Originally celebrated on the second Wednesday of October, the UN General Assembly decided in 2009 to designate October the 13th as the date to commemorate the International Day for Disaster Reduction.
Distinguished guests, I want to take you back a little and remind you of the International Day for Disaster Reduction themes dating back to 2010:
In 2010, the International Day for Disaster Reduction was commemorated jointly with the South African Red Cross under the theme: “Making Cities Resilient: My City is Getting Ready”. The highlight of the commemoration was the launch of the `World Disaster Report: Focus on Urban Risk’.
Based on the lessons learnt from the 2010 campaigns, the Global Assessment Report and the Hyogo Framework for Action mid-term review, a resolution was taken to extend the focus of the theme “Making Cities Resilient: My City is Getting Ready” to 2015.
The main aim of the extension of the campaign’s broader theme is to continue to advocate widespread commitment by local governments to build resilience to disasters and provision of increased support by national governments to cities and municipalities for the purpose of strengthening local capacities.
Under the extended theme, the 2011 International Day for Disaster Reduction campaign aimed to improve awareness of risk reduction in cities and municipalities and to get commitment of stakeholders to prioritise risk reduction within their departments, organisations and communities. The 2011 campaign was also marked by the international adoption of the children’s charter on disaster management.
The 2012 Campaign sub-theme Ladies and gentlemen was, “Women and Girls are Powerful Agents of Change”. This theme noted the government’s commitment to the disaster management function, in particular with regard to empowering women and children to be part of the mainstream economy as well as playing an active role in building community disaster resilience.
Distinguished guests,
I have noted that the 2013 International Day for Disaster Reduction is commemorated under the theme: “Living with Disability and Disasters”. This theme also follows the survey launched in Geneva just recently on the 29th of July 2013 by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), on “the coping capacities of people living with disabilities in the face of a disaster”, as well as the United Nations Human Rights Council Resolution 22/3 of August 2013 on “the work and employability of persons with disabilities”.
Both studies/surveys were launched mainly because persons with disabilities are among the most excluded in society. Their plight is magnified when a disaster strikes. More often than not, their unique contribution to helping communities to prepare for and to respond to disasters is often overlooked.
It is also stated by the World Health Organisation that persons living with disabilities represent one-fifth of the world’s population, but, they still have no significant representation in the planning processes to reduce disaster risks, to prevent disasters, or to build resilient societies and communities.
UNICEF Executive Director, Anthony Lake said: “People with disabilities – including children -- are too often judged by what they cannot do, rather than what they can do.” The human-rights approach must understand disability as an expression of human diversity, and as such is a crosscutting issue that is relevant to all domains of human life.
Just to share with you Ladies and Gentlemen, the news reports posted on the UNISDR website, where it is reported, that when an earthquake struck California in 1994, a man was turned away from a shelter because the staff could not understand sign language and people with cerebral palsy at the very same shelter were ignored because shelter volunteers thought they were on drugs.
It is reported again that during the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and the Sambodhi Residental Home in Galle, Sri Lanka, most victims were people living with disabilities mainly because their needs and contributions were excluded and not considered in the country’s development planning. Most of them died because they drowned as they were unable to escape the waves and not able to leave their beds or failed to comprehend in time the need to escape.
The 2013 International Day for Disaster Reduction theme therefore intends to amplify the inclusion of the needs of persons with disabilities in disaster risk reduction. The theme is founded on the view that persons with disabilities have unique contributions to help reduce the risk of disasters. It seeks to highlight that:
- A disaster resilient planet means everyone must be part of the solution;
- Decisions and policies to reduce disaster risks must reflect the needs of persons with disabilities, and
- Investment in disaster risk reduction must provide for the needs of persons with disabilities.
A classic example is that of persons living with blindness or low vision who can be more effective at search and rescue in conditions where it is difficult to see, than those with sight, who can become disorientated and panic. In such situations roles are reversed and disability becomes very much an issue of context and this can be a good reminder that perhaps all humankind at some point lives with a disability.
According to Handicap International, some people living with disabilities in conditions and circumstances wherein their needs and ideas are included and considered in development and other related forms of planning, are less likely to panic and be very minimally injured in the event of disasters than those without a disability, as they can very effectively deal with very difficult environments on a daily basis.
Ladies and gentlemen,
In line with the surveys as launched and the 2013 IDDR theme, I am appealing that we all strengthen our capacities and commitment and work together as partners to reduce the vulnerabilities of people living with disabilities to disasters. We need to ensure that we provide them with access to education, healthcare, shelter, food and work in order to equip them with knowledge and skills that can assist them to take the correct actions when disasters strike.
Distinguished guests, it is now time that we focus on a major blind spot in disaster (risk) management which accounts for the needs of about one billion or more people estimated worldwide to live with some form of disability.
I want to challenge you colleagues with the following questions:
- Does everyone in this marquee now, have a personal preparedness plan for disasters?
- Do we all have the ability to protect ourselves and persons living with disabilities from any form of a disaster event?
- Should a warning of a looming disaster be issued now, are we all going to have sufficient time to evacuate and most importantly consider and remember first, persons living with disabilities who are in our mist today?
With these questions Ladies and Gentlemen, I want to urge you to use your knowledge, skills and awareness to participate in the development of our disaster management plans, both at national and local level. I want to assure you Ladies and Gentlemen that, as a country, we have the potential to provide the necessary skills and insight into how we can reduce disaster risk for all, including people living with disabilities.
Distinguished guests,
The contribution of the National Disaster Management Centre and the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs in commemorating the 2013 International Day for Disaster Reduction, is through partnering with the Limpopo Provincial Government and specifically the Sekhukhune District Municipality and Greater Tubatse Local municipality, to remind the community of and the entire province that government is not overlooking them.
As we all know that the 13th of October falls on a Sunday this year, we have therefore decided to hold these two days of commemoration here in Sekhukhune District Municipality mainly in order to strengthen the municipality’s disaster risk reduction interventions and to build community resilience.
This events target audience includes amongst others, national government departments, Limpopo Provincial government departments, all nine Provincial Disaster Management Centres, Limpopo District and Local Municipalities, government entities, non-government organisations, disability institutions, business and academic institutions.
This was done mainly because key to my department’s Constitutional Mandate, is to ensure a Responsive, Accountable, Effective and Efficient local Government System through working closely and collaboratively with communities and other relevant role players.
This vision is further entrenched in the Local Government Turn Around Strategy as adopted by Cabinet in December 2009 with two key objectives namely:
- To restore the confidence of the majority of our people in our municipalities and a primary delivery machine of the developmental state at a local level and make municipalities the pride of our people
- To re-build and improve the basic requirements for a functional, accountable, responsive, effective, efficient developmental local government.
In opening this important session which takes the form of the meeting of minds to engage in the “Not so obvious Conversation” that looks into issues of inclusiveness, participation, empowerment and localisation of efforts and capacities for effective disaster risk reduction. The lasting impact on risk reduction for all can only be effective and sustainable, if it is considered that women, children, youth groups and people living with disabilities can also take part in building resilient societies.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I want you to take home the Key Message of this event, and to ensure that from now on, you all start to workshop ideas and case studies confirming that: “working in partnership with active civil society and communities is essential to achieving sustainable disaster risk reduction”.
As the leadership of the department administering the Disaster Management Act, 2002, its policy framework (the National Disaster Management Framework 2005) and convening the focal point for disaster risk reduction in South Africa (the National Disaster Management Advisory Forum), we are fully convinced that the ideas that will be shared in the session can inform policy and operational improvements around disaster risk reduction measures.
We also hold the view that the achievement of the Disaster Risk Reduction objectives, with strong local ownership, will go a long way in strengthening our service delivery, poverty reduction and sustainable development programmes and contribute to the achievement of our Global Development Targets as spelled out in the Millennium Declaration.
Government will therefore work hard to encourage any measures which are aimed at fostering “bottom-up” while also promoting “top-to-bottom” approaches to disaster risk reduction. All these efforts will require adequate lobbying, policy intervention and incentives to be attained.
In conclusion, I wish everyone a successful session under the slogan: “Disaster Risk Management is Everybody’s Business” and by our collective participation we will be contributing to “Saving Tomorrow, Together”.
I thank you!
