SDCEA pushes for South Durban off-site emergency plan
We believe an emergency off-site plan is needed for residents of the SDB
WHILE the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (SDCEA) welcomes the municipality’s decision to upgrade the disaster management unit, it has made calls for an off-site plan for the South Durban Basin (SDB) due to the number of accidents in the area.
The municipality’s executive committee has approved expenditure of about R10-million to upgrade the disaster management and emergency control unit call manager and integrated systems.
“The call manager is a server or contact centre software that enables the emergency communications centre to take calls from the public to process all emergencies. The system allows for intelligent routing and links to all emergency services. This system is vital to enable the city to speedily assist residents in distress and to prevent possible loss of lives,” said emergency and community services cluster deputy city manager, Dr Musa Gumede.
“While we welcome this initiative, after numerous meetings with city officials, we believe an emergency off-site plan is needed for residents of the SDB. Given the numerous fires, explosions, gas leaks and truck accidents, this should be priority number one.
Given the numerous fires, explosions, gas leaks and truck accidents, this should be priority number one.
The off-site emergency plan proposal has been gathering dust, sitting on the municipal manager’s desk for over a year, after going through an intensive and rigorous eThekwini municipality council process,” said SDCEA co-ordinator, Desmond D’Sa.
A document created by SDCEA lists all major incidents in the area over the last 16 years. According to their research, the SDB has seen 55 major incidents since 2000, averaging more than three per year.
SDCEA has been working with the community, which has sought a proper emergency evacuation and communications procedure since 1997.
