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At least 18 district municipalities and metros, and one province, have yet to develop disaster management centres. This was revealed in the reply to a DA parliamentary question to the Minister of Cooperative Governance, which among other things, also revealed that the principle reason for these plans not having been developed was a lack of funds. A copy of the reply is available upon request. This is a matter of serious concern considering that an increase in the number and intensity of extreme weather events, such as floods, is one of the likely impacts of climate change.

The DA will submit parliamentary questions to assess whether any timelines have been set for the completion of these plans across all municipalities in the country, and whether measures are being put in place to ensure that the required funding is sourced for those municipalities that are genuinely under resourced.

In terms of Section 43 of the Disaster Management Act of 2002 all Metropolitan and District Municipalities must establish disaster management centres. Similarly, Section 29 of the same act mandates all provinces to establish disaster management centres. Of the 18 municipalities that have not developed these centres, five are in KZN, including Ethekwini Municipality. Of concern is the fact that the Minister could not provide information for ten other municipalities, including Johannesburg, which suggests that the figure for the number of municipalities without disaster management centres could be higher than the figure provided.

Forty-three municipalities, including Johannesburg and Nelson Mandela Bay, have yet to submit "acceptable and appropriate" disaster management plans to the National Disaster Management Centre.

All provinces except the Northern Cape have established disaster management centres. This province has also yet to begin work on formulating a disaster management plan.

While disasters are by their very nature unpredictable and varied in nature, including both human and environmental disasters, we must prepare for them in the eventuality that they do occur. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) expressed increased confidence in its most recent report that some weather events will become more frequent, more widespread and more intense during the 21st century. While one cannot link any one weather event to climate change, the nature of how these events could play out is now well backed up by science.

South Africa is vulnerable to extreme weather events, as is the rest of Southern Africa. Such events could include heavy rainfall, prolonged droughts, increased water needs due to higher temperatures and runaway fires. All of these events have the potential to accentuate poverty and increase human migration.

The Minister of Cooperative Governance surely needs no more motivation than the conclusions of the IPCC reports on climate change to compel municipalities to complete the necessary planning and to set up the required disaster management centres.