(JOINT TASK FORCE FOR DISASTER MANAGEMENT) AND THE FOURTH MEETING BRICS MINISTERS FOR DISASTER MANAGEMENT

Theme: Strengthening post pandemic socio-economic recovery, in the BRICS countries

• Programme Director: Mr Mashwahle Diphofa -Director-General of Department of Traditional Affairs

• Mr Mbulelo Tshangana: Director-General of Department of Cooperative Governance

• Dr Robert Nkuna, Director-General of Planning Monitoring & Evaluation

• Dr Elias Sithole, Head of National Disaster Management Centre

• Ms Mapatane Kgomo-Acting CEO:MISA

• Dr Musa Gumede, Acting City Manager of eThekwini Municipality

• Mr MOS Zungu, HoD Human Settlements

• All senior officials present

• All Heads of BRICS delegations

• Media present

• Distinguished guests

• Ladies and gentlemen

Welcome to the Province of KwaZulu-Natal, the warmest province in South Africa. The Province is known for its sunny weather and superb beaches, game reserves, and rolling hills. As the province, we are honored and privileged to be afforded an opportunity to host the BRICS Summit on Disaster Management. The Summit is hosted in Durban, eThekwini Metropolitan City, which has seen the worst flood disaster in recent history that resulted in over 450 people losing their lives, and widespread destruction of property and infrastructure such as roads and bridges, water and sanitation treatment works, electricity, and many other public amenities.

This natural disaster happened at a time when the country and the world were still recovering from the impact of COVID-19 pandemic which eroded many socio-economic opportunities for sustainable development.

The impact of climate change has become a daily reality in South Africa, and more specifically in KwaZulu-Natal, which cannot be ignored due to the recurrence, frequency, and intensity of extreme weather events, such as floods, drought, runaway veld fires, snowfall, strong winds, prolonged drought, and tropical storms & cyclones accompanied by rising sea levels. The April-May 2022 flood disaster has raised an urgent need for BRICS countries to work together and collaborate to build resilience and invest in technologies for implementing early warning systems. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report released on the 20 March 2023 is pointing towards a dire situation that requires us to act decisively on the global climate emergency. The window to keep the planet liveable is narrowing. The reality is that climate change places an additional burden on us, women in particular when a disaster takes place resulting in displacement of families with a higher impact on the vulnerable groups being women, the disabled and children. As the KZN Province, we are experiencing this burden currently in temporary residential units post the April floods , mothers and children formed the highest population of the impacted. We need to look at disaster management from a gender lense and develop a build back better approach that caters for the most vulnerable especially women, children and persons with disabilities. As women we should be at the forefront of climate adaptation action.

It is sad to note that vulnerable communities who historically had the least contribution to climate change are disproportionately affected by climate risks. Between 2010 and 2022 human mortality from floods and storms has drastically increased. This calls for the need to rethink our development approach and building resilient infrastructure as we face urban sprawl and illegal development on unsuitable land thereby increasing our risks of disasters.

The recent fire incident in Gauteng Joburg CBD and the methane gas explosion again in Joburg CBD should be a warning bell on the need to revisit our early warning systems and response measures as well as our Human Resources capacity to respond to disasters especially the search and rescue capabilities using sophisticated equipment and artificial intelligence . We need not forget that as KZN we have more than 72 people still missing from the April 2022 floods. We have exhausted our search and rescue capability and now call upon our BRICS partners for a collective effort towards early warning systems and search and rescue knowledge.

In the recent past three months the world faced unprecedented climate conditions and record-breaking weather conditions. The month of July was the coldest for us in Sothern Africa while July was the hottest month ever recorded on earth in some western countries , wildfires in Hawaii were the deadliest ever over this century , Beijing recorded its heaviest rainfall since 140 years and this was induced by tropical cyclones leading to the displacement of 125 000 people . Temperatures topped 50 degrees in Morocco on the 11th of august and such heatwave was accompanied by hot dry winds and sandstorms, months long wildfires in Canada burnt over 155000 km2 of land. In India, August was the driest in more than a century. These stats are just an indication that disaster management is becoming a critical discipline requiring an all of society approach in resolving.

In keeping with the Sendai Framework, it is therefore necessary to invest in early warning systems that are community based. However, early warnings without action are meaningless therefore we need to walk the talk. There is a need to consolidate and enhance the relationship between early warning systems and disaster risk reduction (DRR). Some of the advantages of investing on Disaster Risk Reduction, especially early warning systems, are that it reduces vulnerability by building resilience and reducing exposure. Scientific organizations play an important role in contributing to enhancing Early warning systems (EWS) through the provision of scientifically backed research. Data hubs need to make scientific information more easily and readily available in order to capacitate role-players in DRM and early warning systems. We need a data driven, community based early warning system.

This spirit of collaboration was echoed by our leaders during the recent BRICS Summit that was held in Johannesburg through the closing remarks of his Excellency President Cyril Ramaphosa, as the current Chair. The Summit reaffirmed the importance of BRICS people-to-people exchanges in enhancing mutual understanding, friendship, and cooperation. The Summit was able to share the vision of BRICS as a champion of the needs and concerns of the peoples of the Global South. These include the need for beneficial economic growth, sustainable development, and reform of multilateral systems.

I thank you.