Investing in Disaster Risk Reduction is No Longer Optional

Edward Wanyonyi

In the wake of the ongoing flood situation, I have been inundated by calls for commentary on the state of disaster preparedness in the country and the Horn, East, and Central Africa region at large given keeping on this beat of disaster management for over a decade. The region continues to witness unrelenting torrential rains that have so far cumulatively led to the deaths of over 193 persons, displacing more than 700,000 people.

While there are efforts by various state agencies attempting to coordinate rescue efforts, it is important to look at the ongoing flood situation through a dual prism- the first is the reliability of a national early warning alert and rescue system and the second is the cost of politicizing the establishment of a robust National Disaster Management Authority.

Flood and drought closely alternate in their frequency and sadly in their devastation. Closely accompanying the floods are geophysical occurrences such as landslides, craters, and earth depression expansions, boulder movements along ridges or embankments, rivers and tributaries overflows across riparian reserves, destruction of trees across motorways, electricity lines, and in cases where there was a lack of adherence to laid down procedures, the collapse of buildings.

This first layer of cause and effect if not well managed triggers a chain reaction once health-related complications come into play. The rapid spread of waterborne diseases and the challenge of accessing emergency health care where bridges are washed away often spells the difference in how many lives will be saved or lost.

The next layer often shifts the needle from complex to chaos when communities have to deal with a lack of essential supplies for days as markets or shops are closed/flooded and evacuations have to be conducted. At this stage, crops in farms are in most cases swept away, storage facilities of the past harvest soaked and if there are grains, they have higher risks of aflatoxin contamination.

Transport in most cases will be reduced as road diversions increase when major highways are inaccessible due to stormwater flooding, blockage of sewerage systems, and drainage of water from residential and commercial buildings.

This state of chaos continues to play out in many cities and several reasons have been given. The constant is the lack of adherence to building codes and unplanned planning/zoning of residential and commercial settlements oblivious of physical planning requirements. However, where most countries are scoring well is the trade-in blame game across different agencies and institutions key being pressure on the exchequer to release funds for “response” in the absence of a solid strategy.

There is a barely functional early warning system that reaches out to those most at risk of death or injury even though we have democratized airwaves and over 80 percent of the population accesses information through radio and mobile phones. The breakdown of information is further exacerbated by the lack of multi-agency coordination at the grassroots level and where elevated water levels pose risk, especially to the most vulnerable who could have been evacuated had the household alert system –nyumba kumi mechanism been fully at play. The challenge here then seems not to be a lack of resources but a lack of a coordination mechanism and perhaps a wait-and-see attitude that catalyzes action only when deaths cross over 100 per day.

This state is not strange given the fact that ever since the 1994 Mtongwe Ferry disaster, attempts to legislate and establish the National Disaster Management Authority have often been politicized and cashed out by both state and non-state actors because such an entity will streamline disaster risk reduction efforts as opposed to the per diem heavy response field missions that enrich a few at the expense of many.

Politicization continues as Governors seem to enjoy the misappropriation of the disaster management vote with no audit ramifications especially because they can easily get away by claiming there was no remittance of money from the National Government. However, none of the counties has demonstrated the capacity to put in place proper planning from a foresight perspective coupled with geo-mapping and using a systems thinking approach, resourced a solid-tiered response mechanism that will ensure coverage of all residents with early warning messaging to save lives and prepare for the post-recovery phase.

The Kenya Kwanza administration therefore has a golden opportunity to gather courage and re-introduce the National Disaster Management Bill once again to the floor of the house and this time push for its Presidential Assent to enable the establishment of the National Disaster Management Authority. In the meantime, the Ministry of Education should ensure compliance by all head teachers with pre-opening safety reports especially food storage, non-seepage in water tanks, dormitories, and lavatories stability. We owe future generations a foundation of risk reduction and not pages of obituaries from preventable deaths.

The writer is a member of Crime Journalists Association of Kenya (CJAK) and also the Chairperson of the Disaster Risk Reduction Network of African Journalists-DIRAJ.

He can be reached via edward.wanyonyi@diraj.org