SECTION 3: THE NATIONAL DISASTER MANAGEMENT CENTRE

3.1.  RATIONALE FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE NATIONAL DISASTER MANAGEMENT CENTRE

In South Africa, the capacity for managing disasters varies from ongoing service and infrastructure provision, as part of longer-term development initiatives, to that of emergency preparedness and response (usually triggered by a rapid-onset event).

Currently, however, there are a number of shortcomings that hamper effective disaster management. These include the lack of:

• An effective and comprehensive disaster management strategy.

• Coordination and clear lines of responsibility for those involved in disaster management.

• Government capacity, particularly of local government and in rural areas, to implement disaster management.

• Integration of civil society into effective disaster management activities, particularly those concerned with risk reduction.

One way to help overcome these obstacles is to develop and establish a management structure spearheaded at national level by a National Disaster Management Centre ("the centre"). This would ensure that an effective disaster management strategy would be established and implemented. Because national coordination is urgently required, the centre should coordinate disaster management at various levels and promote and assist the implementation of cross-sectoral disaster management activities.

Thus, the centre should primarily function as a coordinating structure that is a repository and conduit of information pertaining to disaster management. It should, therefore, greatly strengthen existing capacity for tracking, monitoring and disseminating information on phenomena and activities that trigger disaster events. It should also act in an advisory capacity to the Inter-Ministerial Committee.

3.2.  GUIDING PRINCIPLES

The following principles should guide the establishment, structure and functions of the centre:

• Integrated and coordinated disaster management is based on partnerships and cooperative governance between all spheres of government. The centre should therefore not subsume nor duplicate disaster management functions normally undertaken at national, provincial or local levels.

• Efficient and cost-effective disaster management must be based and built upon existing capacity in government, the private sector and civil society.

3.3.  STRUCTURE AND LOCATION OF THE CENTRE

As a result of the current fragmented and poorly coordinated approach to disaster management, there is no integrated national disaster management strategy or plan that supports local level responses to emergencies and disaster mitigation in the long-term. Comprehensive, coherent and appropriate disaster management training and community awareness strategies and programmes are also absent.

These limitations militate against the immediate establishment of a fully-fledged centre in the short-term. The centre should spearhead the development of a comprehensive national disaster management thrust. To set the process in motion, it is proposed that the centre should be established as a core structure, made up of a few key trained personnel and capable of being expanded and adapted, as the need arises.

Currently, the Minister for Provincial Affairs and Constitutional Development is responsible for the establishment and management of the centre. The centre already exists in an embryonic form, under the auspices of this department.

The Department of Constitutional Development will manage the centre, at least as an interim measure until a permanent home is found for it. This interim measure is appropriate because the department is closely linked to local government, through its direct involvement with issues relating to local government.

If the centre is to remain a structure within government, it should be located in a national department that performs tasks that cut across individual responsibilities such as water, health, agriculture and so on. Examples of such departments in the current situation are: the Department of Constitutional Development, the Department of Public Service and Administration and the Department of Finance.

This would facilitate improved disaster management planning and financial allocation, which would not unwittingly favour or neglect any relevant functional responsibility. Crucially, such a department will need to facilitate both disaster management and risk reduction activities.

The proposed location and legal standing of the centre in the envisaged institutional structure for disaster management is set out in the organogram below. Stakeholders should carefully examine the viability and practical application of this model.

Note:

• The structures set out in the organogram below are all embryos of similar structures already in existence.
• Emergency management and essential services personnel, comprising representatives from various emergency management and essential services organisations, must participate in the disaster management structures.
• In so far as interdepartmental relations are concerned, the IMC may well require the relevant MECs to participate in certain IMC meetings or meet with such MECs in a MINMEC-type forum.

Proposed location and legal status of the National Disaster Management Centre

Explanatory note to the organogram

1. The President would be able to declare a national disaster under extraordinary circumstances (see Section 5, paragraph 5.7.). The IMC should act in an advisory capacity to the President in this regard.
2. The IMC is comprised of those ministers set out in Section 1, paragraph 1.4. The minister responsible for the centre should convene the IMC. Currently, the Minister for Provincial Affairs and Constitutional Development convenes the IMC.
3. The Minister of Provincial Affairs and Constitutional Development is currently responsible for the establishment and management of the centre. Provision should be made in the proposed National Disaster Management Act (see Section 5, paragraph 5.11.2.) for the powers and functions of the minister responsible for the centre. The centre would therefore be accountable directly to the responsible minister, and through him or her, to the IMC.
4. The National Disaster Management Advisory Committee is to comprise disaster and emergency management and essential services personnel, senior representatives from those national departments whose respective ministers are represented on the IMC, the heads of department charged with disaster management at provincial level or their deputies, representatives of the South Africa Local Government Association (Salga), NGOs and other relevant role players. Such a committee can establish various working groups. The establishment of the committee by the responsible minister may be provided for in the proposed Disaster Management Act, subject to the availability of government funds (see Section 5, paragraph 5.11.2.).
5. These structures should be convened by the MEC of each province respectively, who has been assigned the responsibility for disaster management in the relevant province. Currently, the MEC dealing with local government matters in each province has been assigned this responsibility. These structures should also comprise of disaster and emergency management personnel, the heads of department or their deputies, the provincial affiliate to Salga, NGOs, CBOs and the private sector.
6. These structures will be convened by the official tasked with the responsibility of coordinating disaster management and who is accountable to the chairperson of the Executive Committee (or the Executive Mayor). These structures will also comprise of disaster and emergency management and essential services personnel, NGOs, CBOs/village/district/community representatives and the private sector (see Section 5, paragraph 5.9.).

3.4.  KEY FUNCTIONS OF THE CENTRE

In keeping with the incremental approach to the establishment of the centre, a similar phased-in approach regarding its functions and activities should be adopted.

3.4.1.  Information management

One of the most important functions of the centre should be its ability to act as a repository and conduit of information on issues pertaining to disaster management. It should serve as an information management and advice centre to all spheres of government, the private sector and the broader community on risk reduction and disaster management.

In order to enable the centre to perform this critical function, it must have the authority to compel government and other role players to make the requisite information available. It must be able to monitor requests and recommendations made by it.

A key output of the centre would be the development of a composite range of disaster management information strategies.

Stage one

• Establish a comprehensive disaster management information system, including an electronic database (e.g., "Geographic Information System" capability, meteorological forecasts, available emergency response resources, hydrological information, health status of children under the age of five, information relating to training and community awareness).

• Establish necessary links to facilitate the collection of information and its rapid dissemination in order to avoid the duplication of existing systems.

• Establish mechanisms to strengthen the information flow to and from communities (e.g., through NGOs) to enhance and build resilience to heightened vulnerability and risks.

• Monitor compliance by government, by having the authority to request information.

Stage two

• Continue improving the information collection and rapid dissemination systems.

• Upgrade the quality of information collected.

• Assist in guiding future development programmes and advising on the management or improvement of existing high-risk developments.

3.4.2.  Preparation of strategies, policies and plans

The centre should focus on preparing and compiling appropriate disaster management strategies, discreet policies such as drought and flood management policies and contingency plans, including emergency procedures and so on. The compilation of disaster plans is essential for, inter alia, anticipating disasters, developing and implementing risk reduction strategies and coordinating disaster response among all role players.

Stage one

• Initiate and coordinate the development of disaster management strategies, discreet policies and plans. These have to be done in conjunction with relevant national, provincial and local government agencies, as well as NGOs and broader civil society.

• Initiate the establishment of effective disaster management at provincial and local level in consultation with the relevant role players. Ensure that the key aspects of disaster management namely, prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response, recovery and rehabilitation, are embraced as depicted in Models A and B (see diagram below).

• Initiate the integration of risk reduction strategies into the setting of land development objectives in terms of the Development Facilitation Act and Integrated Development Plans drawn up in terms of the Local Government Transition Act. This must be done in consultation with the relevant role players.

• Establish and maintain links with local government, the relevant national and provincial government departments, as well as NGOs and broader civil society.

• Establish and maintain links with Southern African aid agencies involved in disaster management.

• Establish and maintain international links to ensure the accessibility of valuable disaster management information relating, for instance, to innovations in monitoring and warning systems, operational centres and equipment.

• Support the development of community disaster management strategies.

All the aspects of disaster management are reflected in these models. One phase follows the next and, in some instances, phases occur simultaneously as depicted in Model B. In such instances disaster management is seen as a continuous process and disasters are managed as a parallel series of activities rather than a sequence of actions.

Stage two

• Develop national guidelines and a framework for the production of disaster management plans.

• Develop international guidelines with the relevant national government departments on disaster management plans for the Southern African region.

• Support the initiatives of national government departments in seeking appropriate options for South Africa's involvement in international disaster relief efforts.

• Support the initiatives of national government departments in the development of coordinated procedures for incoming relief in the form of specialist skills in emergency logistics, health, water, telecommunications and international humanitarian assistance and so on.

• Continue to support community risk reduction and other disaster management strategies.

3.4.3.  Assessing vulnerability

The key to successfully reducing the effects of a disaster is to understand the nature of the potential disaster and the factors that contribute to it. Once this information is available, the ability to develop community mitigation, planning and advice is greatly increased. The principal outputs for the centre are to enhance capacity to assess vulnerability, determine levels of risk and ensure appropriate mitigation and effective disaster reduction.

Stage one

• Establish links with research bodies, institutions, NGOs and local communities that can provide relevant data and methodology on risk reduction.

• Review local capacity and levels of resilience to those conditions that can increase vulnerability.

• Undertake a review of existing information pertaining to risk reduction.

Stage two

• Establish broad-scale hazard monitoring capability.

• Determine shortfalls in available information.

• Analyse data to determine levels of vulnerability and risk.

3.4.4.  Coordination and support during disaster and emergency situations

When an emergency or disaster situation arises, the centre and other relevant disaster management structures should be able to expand their capacity and re-focus their activities to enable them to respond rapidly and effectively.

In order to facilitate the temporary expansion of the centre in crisis situations, support plans should be developed to enable the temporary release of personnel to the centre when an emergency or disaster occurs.

Government at all levels should, in consultation with relevant role players (including organised labour), compile lists of those persons who may be released temporarily to the centre on short notice.

An expanded centre should ensure that key decision-makers, such as the members of the IMC, receive the best available information and advice regarding response activities. Since the centre would hold information pertaining to the various levels of disaster and emergency management, decisions could be taken at the level appropriate to the scale of the disaster or emergency.

Stage one

• Establish the work plans for a fully-fledged coordination centre with the capability to provide a 24-hour service if the need arises.

• Develop and maintain plans for the effective coordination of disaster response.

• Initiate the development of plans to enable the expansion of the centre on short notice when a disaster occurs.

Stage two

• Facilitate working partnerships between the disaster management agencies, community, government and private organisations.

• Continue to develop a coordination centre with operational guidelines that can be adopted when a disaster occurs.

• Investigate and begin to establish potential disaster early warning capabilities.

3.4.5.  Non-emergency situations

During non-emergency situations, the centre should focus on longer-term risk reduction such as making inputs into the setting and implementation of minimum standards for low cost housing It should ensure that cooperation and support are provided to emergency and essential service organisations.

Contact, information exchange and dissemination and liaison should be ongoing between the centre and such service organisations. Then when an emergency occurs, clear mandates and lines of responsibility are understood by all players in the response and recovery chain.

3.4.6.  Conducting audits

Stages one and two

There are numerous players in the disaster management arena. These include national, provincial, and local government, the private sector, NGOs, and broader civil society. Each performs various disaster management functions. These, however, may not be clearly defined or widely known.

The centre should therefore, in consultation with existing structures, audit the current capacity, structures, responsibilities and reporting mechanisms of all organs involved in disaster management and related activities.

The auditing of current capacity in disaster management and the identification and delineation of clear lines of responsibility and functions will facilitate the integration of the centre's information gathering role with relevant existing programmes.

The key strategy would be to dovetail the requirements and information needs of the centre with national, provincial and local initiatives and programmes that are already functioning and which are effective.

3.4.7.  Training and community awareness

The centre should facilitate disaster management training and promote community awareness of disaster and risk reduction.

Stage one

• Facilitate the assessment of training needs in order to determine the training requirements for various sectors.

• Facilitate the development of awareness creation programmes and engage with agencies involved in information dissemination in order to raise awareness of disasters, hazards and risks.

• Develop working links and partnership arrangements with those organisations, sectors and institutions involved in disaster management training, particularly with the Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs), established in terms of the Skills Development Act.

Stage two

• Develop appropriate training and education material with relevant partners. This initiative should be harmonised with the work of the SETAs within the framework of the National Skills Development Strategy.

• Continue to build working partnerships with training providers and educators.

How to read the White Paper | Foreword by the Minister of Provincial Affairs and Constitutional Development | Section 1: Introduction | Section 2: Setting the context  | Section 3: The National Disaster Management Centre | Section 4: Funding disaster management | Section 5: A national Disaster Management Act  | Section 6: Training and community awareness | Section 7: Conclusion | Appendices | The drafting team and acknowledgements 

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