Volunteers from the non-profit organisation Friends for Life join Region E officials during a rain-safety campaign.
The early summer rains prompted the Joburg City Council to take pre-emptive measures against flood-related dangers, especially in the flood-prone informal settlements like Alexandra, and along the river banks in the city.
Shack dwellers who live in the Setwetla informal settlement and in Alex homes along the banks of the Jukskei River are often casualties of the devastation that destroys lives and property annually when their homes are washed away by flash floods and damaged by hail and strong winds. The lucky ones get temporary shelter and safety in halls, churches and at the already overcrowded transit camps.
A volunteer discusses rain safety with a resident.
Emergency Management Services (EMS) and Disaster Management Services (DMS), assisted by non-profit organisations, conducted a door to door rainy season campaign targeting the most vulnerable spots.
EMS’s Edwin Mashile said the campaign was a proactive intervention to identify and teach vulnerable groups about the hazards of floods, thunder and swimming in dangerous spots. The dangers of the contamination of water, food and the environment were also highlighted.
“We specifically target kids who are influenced by peer pressure to swim in rivers without supervision and skills. Also, we discourage them from playing in scrap vehicles and disused buildings which should be kept locked or destroyed,” Mashile said.
Peter Mosime of DMS said the campaign was initiated as mitigation against the all-year-round disasters that result from natural disasters like floods and man-made disasters like fire.
“We rely on early warning systems to determine rain patterns and effect remedies like diving teams to rescue victims from drowning. We also provide humanitarian support, assisted by non-profit organisations, to change behaviour – also in school children – to prevent fires often caused by drunkenness and sleeping near unprotected fires in unstable appliances,” Mosime said.
City volunteers busy with a rain-safety campaign.
Noluzuko Kwebulane of the non-profit organisation Friends for Life said they conduct continuous lifeskills campaigns in the areas most at risk and specifically target orphaned and vulnerable children who don’t have parents and guardians and therefore have to fend for themselves.
“We identify them for the council’s social programmes, intervene through home visits, material, education and holiday support programmes. Also, we expose them to services that [protect them against] the dangers associated with illegal electricity connections and other risks surrounding them,” said Kwebulane.
