MEDIA ALERT - Disaster Management Institute South Africa

MEDIA ALERT: DISASTER MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE IN MANGAUNG WILL TAKE A
CLOSE LOOK AT CITY AND COMMUNITY PREPAREDNESS, RESILIENCE
The Disaster Management Institute of Southern Africa (DMISA) will be hosting its annual conference
in the City of Roses from 11 to 12 September 2013.
In keeping with the current focus of the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction,
the conference will be focusing attention on building resilient cities and communities.
Representatives of the media are welcome to attend, please arrange media accreditation and
appointment to interview keynote speakers with Ms Erica Swart (082-774-5508) or Ms Karin Muller
(083-744-5824).
THE DISASTER MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE OF SOUTHERN AFRICA (DMISA) ANNUAL
CONFERENCE
THEME: “BUILDING RESILIENCE: COMMUNITIES GETTING READY”
WEDNESDAY 11 TO THURSDAY 12 SEPTEMBER 2013
PRESIDENT HOTEL, BLOEMFONTEIN
The Conference of the Institute is the biggest annual Disaster Management Conference in Africa and
routinely attracts more than 350 delegates. The Institute is recognized as the mouthpiece of the
Disaster Management profession in Southern Africa. The Institute presents Conference 2013 in
partnership with the South Africa Local Government Association (SALGA), the National Disaster
Management Centre (NDMC), SA Weather Service (SAWS) and the United Nations’ International
Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR).
The conference provides an annual opportunity for a diverse range of stakeholders in disaster
management from across Africa to gather and share skills, knowledge and experience.
This year’s conference will be hosted/co-hosted by the Free State Provincial Government, the SA
Weather Service, the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality and the National Disaster Management
Centre (NDMC) in the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA).
THEME: “BUILDING RESILIENCE: COMMUNITIES GETTING READY”
BACKGROUND: UNISDR CAMPAIGN: “MAKING CITIES RESILIENT” : 2010 - 2015
The "Making Cities Resilient" campaign addresses issues of local governance and urban risk while
drawing upon previous ISDR Campaigns on safer schools and hospitals, as well as on the
sustainable urbanization principles developed in the UN-Habitat World Urban Campaign 2009-2013.
With the support and recommendation by many partners and participants, and a Mayor's statement
made during the 2011 Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction, the "Making Cities Resilient"
campaign will continue to run until at least 2015. See http://www.unisdr.org/we/campaign/cities.
Mayors and local governments are both the key targets and drivers for the campaign. Local
government officials are faced with the threat of disasters on a daily basis and need better access to
policies and tools to effectively deal with them. The Hyogo Framework for Action 2005- 2015: Building
the Resilience of Nations and Communities to Disasters offers solutions for local governments and
actors to manage and reduce urban risk. Urban risk reduction provides opportunities for capital
investments through infrastructure upgrades and improvements, building retrofits for energy efficiency
and safety, urban renovation and renewal, cleaner energies, and slum upgrading. Local governments
are the closest level to the citizens and to their communities. They play the first role in responding to
crises and emergencies. They deliver essential services to their citizens (health, education, transport,
water, etc.), which need to be made resilient to disasters.
Making cities safe from disaster is everybody's business. National governments, local government
associations, international, regional and civil society organizations, donors, the private sector,
academia and professional associations as well as every citizen need to be engaged in reducing their
risk to disasters. All these stakeholders need to be on board, take on their role and contribute to
building disaster resilient cities.

The South African National Disaster Management Centre has introduced Phase 2 of the International
Strategy for Disaster Reduction Campaign theme for 2010-2015: “Making Cities (Municipalities)
Resilient: My City (Municipality) Is Getting Ready” (to implement DRR) at the DMISA Conference
2012. The campaign strategy is that it should aim at creating an enabling environment of risk
reduction at local level through the following strategic approaches:
Political dimension: to attain commitments at local and national level to reduce disaster risk in
a sustainable way by increasing investments within existing development programmes and
budgets.
Technical dimension: to facilitate the implementation of disaster risk reduction measures in
municipal planning and implementation (i.e. through IDPs, compliance with building codes,
etc).
Communications/Advocacy dimension: to enhance awareness about disaster risk among
different stakeholders, including local leaders, communities and other role players.
The Campaign Partners and Target Audience:
Primary audience:
• Municipal structures: A Municipal planning process should be participatory, allowing all
stakeholders to consider how best to integrate disaster risk reduction elements and the ‘ten
essentials’ into their development plans and activities.
(http://www.unisdr.org/campaign/resilientcities/toolkit/essentials)
• Communities, civil society formations, Non-Governmental Organizations/Community Based
Organizations, Faith Based Organizations can play a major role through “community action
planning”. The importance of participative, community-based approaches is generally
acknowledged in the fields of development, disaster preparedness, mitigation, response and
recovery measures.
Secondary audience:
• National and provincial government:
o
o
o
To develop appropriate policies and legislative frameworks.
To build adequate capacity and allocate resources.
To involve non-state actors to support implementation.
• Academic institutions:
o
o
o
o
To design and implement DRM/R education and training programmes.
Awareness creation on DRM/R issues.
Development and roll-out of advocacy, awareness and research programmes.
Knowledge management and advisory services (i.e. information and advisory services).
• DRM professional bodies such as DMISA
PROGRAMME HIGHLIGHTS
OPENING CEREMON Y
Candle ceremony and moment of silent reflection
DR MAL REDDY: PRESIDENT: DMISA

Welcome
WMS S M MLAMLELI
MEC: CoGTAHS, FREE STATE
KEYNOTE ADDRESS AND OFFICIAL OPENING
THE HONOURABLE MINISTER S L TSENOLI :MINISTER OF COOPERATIVE GOVERNANCE AND
TRADITIONAL AFFAIRS
WATCHING THE WEATHER TO PROTECT LIFE AND PROPERTY
MR MNIKELI NDABAMBI, SOUTH AFRICAN WEATHER SERVICE
DROUGHT INSURANCE FOR EXTENSIVE LIVESTOCK FARMERS BASED ON
STANDARD PRECIPITATION INDEX AS A TOOL FOR DROUGHT RISK REDUCTION
DR ANDRIES JORDAAN, DiMTEC, UNIVERSITY OF THE FREE STATE
SEVERE CONVECTIVE STORM RISK IN SOUTH AFRICA: CHALLENGES AND UNCERTAINTIES IN
BUILDING THE RESILIENCE OF VULNERABLE COMMUNITIES
DR DESMOND PYLE, STENDEN UNIVERSITY, PORT ALFRED
THE USE OF WARD COMMITTEE WORKING GROUPS IN MAKING COMMUNITIES MORE
RESILIENT
MR HENK LOMBARD, DISASTER MANAGEMENT CENTRE: PHALABORWA
INFORMAL SETTLERS DOLOMITE SINKHOLE RISK AWARENESS, ZONKIZIZWE EXTENTION SIX,
SOUTH AFRICA
MR JOHANES BELLE, DiMTEC, UNIVERSITY OF THE FREE STATE
AN IMPLEMENTATION TOOL GONE OFF THE RAILS: COUNTING THE COSTS OF A LEVEL 3
DISASTER MANAGEMENT PLAN
DR JOHAN MINNIE, AURECON
EVIDENCE BASED FIRE PREVENTION PROGRAMME TARGETING HIGH RISK COMMUNITIES
MR RODNEY EKSTEEN, PROVINCIAL DISASTER MANAGEMENT CENTRE: WESTERN CAPE
MEDIA COVERAGE AND DISASTER OCCURRENCE IN KWA-ZULU NATAL (KZN) PROVINCE: AN
EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS
DR BETHUEL NGCAMU, UNIVERSITY OF KWA-ZULU NATAL
INCIDENT MANAGEMENT: ARE YOU AND YOUR COMMUNITY PREPARED FOR ALL POTENTIAL
MINOR AND MAJOR INCIDENTS
M S FRANCIS HOETS, DISASTER MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS (DMS)
A NATIONAL DISASTER MANAGEMENT PERSPECTIVE ON PROGRESS IN SOUTH AFRICA
MR KEN TERRY, HEAD: NATIONAL DISASTER MANAGEMENT CENTRE (NDMC)
COMMUNITY RESILIENCE THROUGH FOOD SECURITY
MR FERDI MOCKE, DISASTER MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS (DMS )
AFTER THE RISK MAPPING WHAT NOW
MR MALCOLM PROCTER, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY AND FISHERIES (DAFF),
FREE STATE
COMMUNITY-BASED FIRE RISK REDUCTION AT KHAYELISHA INFORMAL SETTLEMENT,
GRASSLAND PHASE 4 OF MANGAUNG METROPOLITAN MUNICIPALITY
MS LIZZY MORAKE, PROVINCIAL DISASTER MANAGEMENT CENTRE: FREE STATE
HOW READY ARE WE FOR HAZMAT INCIDENTS
MR THINUS RABE, KIMBERLEY MICRODIAMOND LABORATORY: DE BEERS EXPLORATION
BUILDING RESILIENCE THROUGH TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT IN COMMUNITIES
MS JOZELLE STEENKAMP, CHILDHOOD CANCER FOUNDATION SA
MAKING CITIES RESILIENT CAMPAIGN – MY CITY IS GETTING READY

MS CHARLOTTE POWELL, DISASTER RISK MANAGEMENT CENTRE, CITY OF CAPE TOWN
DISASTER MANAGEMENT: A LINK TO EFFECTIVE INFRASTRUCTURE MANAGEMENT
MS MANDISA NOHASHE, DISASTER MANAGEMENT CENTRE: CACADU DISTRICT MUNICIPALITY
ASSESSING THE KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDES AND PRACTICES REGARDING CHOLERA
PREPAREDNESS AND PREVENTION IN MAMPURU VILLAGE, LIMPOPO, SOUTH AFRICA
MS ALICE NCUBE, DiMTEC, UNIVERSITY OF THE FREE STATE
THE USE OF VULNERABILITY MAPPING IN BUILDING COMMUNITY RESILIENCE
DR HERMAN BOOYSEN, AURECON
THE SEVERE WEATHER WARNING SERVICE OF SOUTH AFRICA: DEVELOPMENTS TO IMPROVE
SERVICES TO DISASTER MANAGEMENT
MESSRS EUGENE POOLMAN AND HUGH VAN NIEKERK , SOUTH AFRICAN WEATHER SERVICE
TOWARDS A NATIONAL INCIDENT COMMAND SYSTEM FOR DISASTER MANAGEMEN T
MR COLIN DEINER, PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT: WESTERN CAPE
DEVELOPMENT OF A DISASTER MANAGEMENT ORGANISATIONAL FRAMEWORK FOR
OCCUPATIONS (OFO) QUALIFICATION CODES
MR ANTHONY KESTEN, DMISA COUNCILLOR
Issued by:
The Disaster Management Institute of Southern Africa (DMISA)
123 Rietfontein Rd
PO Box 7130
Primrose Hill
1417
South Africa
www.disaster.co.za
Contact: Dr Maliga Reddy (President), Tel 083-262-7796
Dr Johan Minnie (Deputy President), Tel 084-220-0074
Ms Erika Swart (Conference Coordinator), Tel 082-774-5508
Ms Karin Muller (Administrator) Tel 083-744-5824