Disaster risk assessment in South Africa: Some current challenges

Abstract

Especially since the 1990s Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) as a field of practice has developed at a significant pace. DRR. as it relates to ‘sustainable development’, has increasingly been promoted by international organisations and today the United Nations has an organ specifically dedicated to this field. As with other ‘risk’ related fields, DRR in South Africa, driven by legislative obligations, has increasingly become subject to ‘risk assessments’. These assessments have been hampered by various challenges. This article briefly mops the South African DRR landscape, including contemporary theoretical frameworks and legislative requirements, specifically regarding Disaster Risk Assessment (DRA). DRAs conducted in South Africa at municipal level are examined and particular challenges are analysed. A number of methodological inadequacies are highlighted, relating to amongst others, the quantification of risk; the inappropriate use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS): and the static presentation of disaster risk related information, which does not seem to be informed by relevant theoretical models. The author argues that these deficiencies primarily relate to the (municipal) level of analysis, and consequently makes out a case in favour of ‘community based’ DRAs wherever possible. Positioning DRAs at this level of analysis will bath include local populations as important actors in disaster risk reduction, and improve researchers' ability to avoid the identified methodological constraints