Floods in KwaZulu-Natal have affected a total of 85 280 people, leaving thousands of people homeless in five districts and the eThekwini Municipality, as well as 461 fatalities.
Premier Sihle Zikalala of KwaZulu-Natal gave an update on the province’s progress following the April and May flood catastrophes, reporting that 23 unidentified remains with DNA samples had still to be recovered.
“A total of 87 persons are still missing,” says the report. There are 6 895 homeless persons and 50 wounded people. In all, 27 069 households were impacted, with 8 584 completely destroyed homes and 13 536 partially ruined homes.
“Through our search and rescue activities, we were able to save a total of 249 persons alive throughout the tragedies.” “A total of 3 941 teams from the SANDF [South African National Defence Force], SAPS [South African Police Services], disaster teams, and Road Traffic Inspectorate teams are still on the ground working on sectoral responses to this tragedy,” Zikalala added.
The demobilization, particularly in the SANDF, will be staggered, according to Zikalala, although specialized teams like as engineers and others would remain behind.
While the hunt for missing people continues, the Premier said the Department of Justice and Correctional Services is working on a presumption of death procedure in which it is established that “we have no hopes of finding the missing folks alive.”
He did say, however, that this would be used as a last measure to help the families achieve closure.
R25 billion will be spent to rebuild infrastructure networks that have been harmed.
The flood damage has been officially estimated at R25 billion, hurting mostly infrastructural networks, industrial, and agriculture, according to Zikalala.
“The floods have had a significant impact on eThekwini, and we feel that while we attend to the entire province, we should speed up our reaction in eThekwini because here is where we will have the most impact on reversing the damage,” Zikalala said.
He claimed that villages near rivers and canals in coastal areas, including informal settlements, were the most hit, particularly those in poor terrain.
“According to a collaborative study conducted by the eThekwini Metro and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, 1.3 million people in the city reside within the flood line.
We’re also told that 33.2 percent of all residences in the city, or more than a quarter, are informal buildings, which excludes rural housing.
“This is a big issue for the recovery program, and it necessitates a long-term strategy to protect our communities from future disasters,” the Premier stated.
Reconstruction and restoration have made significant progress.
The Premier also stated that significant progress has been achieved in getting the province back on its feet, and that the province is now into the second stage, which involves infrastructure restoration and economic revitalization.
“While emergency humanitarian assistance has been provided, we are certain that all impacted individuals are safe and that their basic requirements have been satisfied.”
Stabilization, rehousing individuals who have lost their houses, and restoring service provision, as well as the rehabilitation and reconstruction (Building Back Better) program, are currently the main priorities.
“This will entail massive infrastructure building and rehabilitation.” It will also entail the construction of permanent residences in adequately positioned sites, as well as measures to safeguard inhabitants from future bad weather occurrences,” Zikalala explained.