A view of the Westgate Mall in Nairobi. The blame game that Kenyans have been treated to over the Westgate Mall attack is probably one of the loudest in recent times. PHOTO | EMMA NZIOKA | FILE
In Summary
He might actually find Albert Einstein’s words useful when the legendary scientist observed that you cannot expect different results when you continue doing things the same way.
Disaster mitigation includes actions taken in advance of a disaster to reduce its effects.
In Cuba, no international effort was necessary when the worst hurricane hit in 2002 because of massive investment in disaster prevention measures.
The blame game that Kenyans have been treated to over the Westgate Mall attack is probably one of the loudest in recent times.
But we also recall that the same blame game was conspicuously in play when fire broke out at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in August.
This demonstrates that our government’s response to disasters of whatever nature is usually poor and uncoordinated despite a rare sense of community and compassion exhibited by Kenyans during such times.
This should tell President Kenyatta that there is a big problem in this country.
He might actually find Albert Einstein’s words useful when the legendary scientist observed that you cannot expect different results when you continue doing things the same way.
It is time for the country to invest in disaster prevention and preparedness.
Global trends reveal that disaster-prone countries are now investing in mitigation, preparedness and prevention because tangible gains can result from this investment.
Disaster mitigation includes actions taken in advance of a disaster to reduce its effects.
Mitigation in this sense is the long-term risk reduction measures intended to minimise the effects of a disaster.
Preparedness, on the other hand, includes the measures taken immediately before and after a disaster.
These may include evacuation plans, health and safety procedures, search and rescue plans.
Mitigation is thus a long-term process aimed at addressing factors that convert hazards to disasters whereas preparedness tackles the risks through speedy and effective response.
Kenyans agree that during the Westgate attack, such plans and procedures were conspicuously missing, given the administrative, security and logistical lapses they witnessed.
This raises pertinent questions beyond just blaming our security agencies: do we have a national disaster policy?
Has our Parliament passed special disaster legislation to govern our actions when disasters strike?
Do we have a plan detailing the technical, social, financial, organisational and administrative arrangements to be made in the event of a disaster?
No wonder the National Disaster Management Committee is now asking for a more coordinated operation in future.
Today, most of our disaster efforts are directed towards the visible post-disaster relief, reconstruction and rehabilitation phase, but we have totally ignored the invisible prevention phase.
In fact, in many developing countries, there is often little interest or political will towards investing in disaster prevention, yet failure to address this results in enormous losses of life and livelihoods.
This is what has happened to us, but there are good lessons to draw from other countries.
In China, investment of $3.15 billion in flood control measures over 40 years is believed to have averted potential losses of $12 billion.
In Cuba, no international effort was necessary when the worst hurricane hit in 2002 because of massive investment in disaster prevention measures.
Only five people died because mechanisms were in place to evacuate 700,000 from Havana and other towns.
According to a World Bank report of 2004, economic losses worldwide from disasters during the 1990s could have been reduced by $280 billion worldwide if $40 billion was invested in mitigation and preparedness.
Things may look gloomy for President Kenyatta now, but this is a good opportunity for him to take the country forward.
This is the time the President should think of allocating more resources to disaster prevention and preparedness because management has now become a development issue in Kenya.
Besides adequate resource allocation for disaster prevention, the government must do three things: first, special disaster legislation is necessary to ensure that preparedness aspects of national policy are adequately covered and implemented.
Second, there is need for a clear and comprehensive national disaster policy covering all aspects of management.
Third, a well-resourced National Disaster Management Centre to monitor the preparedness activities is not only necessary but imperative.
Mr Nyantino is the CEO, Media Development in Africa (Medeva), and is a graduate student in Public Policy, Indira Gandhi University
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