BY DELISA THWALA
MBABANE– The Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Themba Nhlanganiso Masuku on behalf of the government has requested people and media houses to urgently bring torrential rains victims to them.
Masuku said as an office they relied on help from members of the public and the media houses in the country to help them locate victims faster so they assist them.
In addition to that, he requested an urgent report on the woman whose house collapsed on her, and she later lost her life.
To this, the country’s DPM said they needed to offer urgent help where they can so that by the time others receive help half the problem is solved.
“We have NDMA who offers urgent help like tents and food. Since we are not on the ground we would like the media to really help us with information on these people who have suffered,” he said.
He further said they were not on the ground as Government but saw videos and pictures and really wanted to help where they can urgently.
Meanwhile, National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Russell Dlamini, said the cost to help and mitigate the situation was less than E300 million.
The CEO had been asked if they had a plan in place that they would use to respond to disasters, given the fact that Eswatini was in a cyclone season.
The NDMA and partners last year launched a cyclone readiness plan which stated the areas that were likely to be affected and that government might need to respond to during disasters.
“As the DPM stated that the damage was not that bad across the country, I can safely say the cost would not reach E300 million,” he said.
Dlamini was also asked if they were looking at creating a disaster risk management fund, which would see the country have enough resources to respond to disasters.
The CEO said they were working with the Ministry of Finance to come up with a fund. He said they were creating a disaster risk strategy which was crucial to determine how funds would be raised for the fund. After the completion of the strategy, Dlamini said government would then launch the fund. He further highlighted that the formation of the fund would not be done overnight. As it required a lot of expertise.
