Manzini Council signs MoU for natural disaster preparedness

By Khulile Thwala

The Municipal Council of Manzini has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) to ensure that they mitigate disaster risks and ensure that the city’s citizens as well as land and infrastructural resources are protected.

Council Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Lungile Dlamini, speaking during the signing of the MoU ceremony, said disaster risk management is a key component in all developing and developed cities across the globe.

“Over the years we have experienced all sorts of disaster disasters in our city; ranging from heavy storms as a result of climate change – and with the most recent being the Covid-19 pandemic. We initially collaborated with the NDMA in 2018 wherein we developed the Manzini City Disaster Committee. We also worked closely with the NDMA in 2020 to develop a Covid-19 strategy for the city of Manzini, which assisted in controlling the spread of the virus”, Dlamini said.

Dlamini further added that they were already hard at work as a municipality to review their disaster management plan so that it aligns with global standards as well as current trends.

This comes at a time when the country has experienced higher than anticipated rainfalls which have resulted in floods in some places and damage to infrastructure.

“As a municipality that thrives on partnerships, we have identified NDMA as a strategic partner towards the achievement of this goal,” said Dlamini.
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The objectives of the MoU:
– The development of an NDMA-led Manzini Disaster Risk Management Plan.
– Capacitation of municipal employees on issues of disaster risk management.
– Resource sharing
– Networking opportunities with various global and local institutions
– Sharing of data and information that will help the municipality provide early warning information to citizens of the city.