Durban North organisation gives back through outreach programme
Domino Foundation's Disaster Response Unit has called on businesses and civil society to partner with groups like KZN Response to ensure local communities are better prepared for future disasters which most certainly will strike at some time.
INTERNATIONAL Day for Disaster Risk Reduction on October 13 celebrated people and communities who are alleviating disaster risks.
This year’s theme was the reciprocal relationship between disasters and inequality.
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Cathy Whittle, leader of The Domino Foundation’s Disaster Response Unit (DRU), said it was true that around the world, and as we’ve seen in KZN, the already marginalised were hit hardest and suffered most in last year’s floods and the previous year’s civil unrest.
Operational since 2016, Domino’s DRU team joined humanitarian efforts in Mozambique after a damaging cyclone that year. Three years later, a team went to Beira to bring aid to the victims of Cyclone Idai’s devastation. That same year, a tornado hit New Hanover northeast of Pietermaritzburg – lives were lost, and hundreds were displaced. The DRU team was among those who responded to the emergency.
Over the past seven years, the unit has partnered with other NPOs in KZN Response to bring aid to victims of catastrophes and, recently, in initiatives aimed at building resilient local communities able to deal with the initial effects of disasters before other better-resourced responders arrive.
Whittle explained that disasters are recurring events with four phases: mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery.
“Over the past year, there have been disaster reduction conferences around the country, and a major goal has been to help communities become effective in their own response to and recovery from adverse circumstances.”
In early February this year, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit parts of Turkey and Syria, killing 59 000 and leaving 17 million in desperate need. Cathy joined an international team to go to their aid.
“So often, the rest of the world comes to Africa’s aid in times of disaster. It was time to return the favour.”
In the scenes of misery and destitution, Cathy saw the same need for compassion and help she has seen so often in catastrophe-stricken situations here at home.
“I was grateful I could use beyond our continent what I had learnt in an African context.”
She can be contacted on 031 110 0730 or at nutrition@domino.org.za for more information on how to be part of the answer.
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