Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) brought on several social, economic, political, and environmental challenges. What was mostly questioned was the efficacy of the Disaster Management Act 57 of 2002 (As Amended 16 of 2015) (DMA), which was used to declare COVID-19 a disaster. The concern was whether the DMA is able to deal with pandemics when its focus is mostly on climate-related disasters. Most public health emergencies experience the spread of overwhelming information, some of which ...
The South African disaster response activities surpass risk reduction since the implementation of the Disaster Management Act 57 of 2002 (DMA) and the National Disaster Management Framework of 2005 (NDMF). Risk reduction, in particular risk communication, remained unexploited until the occurrence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The legislation and policy mandate a proactive approach for disaster management, requiring a focus on disaster risk reduction. Therefore, this st...
Abstract Water scarcity is a slow – onset disaster that does not usually obtain rapid humanitarian intervention, and the group mostly affected is women. This dissertation focuses on experiences and coping strategies of rural women with regards to water scarcity. The main focus is on exploring the impact of water scarcity on rural women and determining the significance the of progression of vulnerability model, progression of safety model and risk reduction objectives as tools for effec...
Abstract South Africa is suffering from a magnitude of increasing human and weather-induced hazards such as drought, diseases, water shortage, urban-flooding, coastal flooding, wildfires, social unrest, and storms. In turn, these hazards instigate devastating social, economic, environmental, physical, political instability and devastating impacts. Due to increased hazards, disaster management activities have gained momentum. Activities such as preparedness, prevention, mitigation, response, a...
Dr O. Kunguma (PhD) is a Lecturer at the Disaster Management Training and Education Centre for Africa - University of the Free State. She lecturers Strategic Disaster Management, Risk Communi
