Cyclone Idai: Lessons learnt for disability in Zim

Cyclone Idai has come and gone, leaving a trail of cataclysmic physical and human damage in the seven districts of Chipinge, Chimanimani, Buhera, Bikita, Mutare, Gutu, and Chiredzi.

Ten days after the onset of the disaster on March 15, at least 181 deaths and 175 injuries were reported and 330 people were reportedly missing in Zimbabwe as of March 25.

An estimated 270 000 people had been affected by flooding and were in need of humanitarian assistance.

As Zimbabwe continues to forge ahead with the daunting task of “building back better” after the disaster of epic proportions, the country runs the risk of excluding that extremely marginalised group that it has systematically excluded from its initial disaster mitigation efforts — people with disabilities (PWDs).

The lack of inclusion of PWDs in humanitarian interventions and consequent lack of service provision took centre stage during Cyclone Idai when UNICEF wrote an article…

 

Lessons in disaster relief from the world’s most cyclone-battered state

The state of Odisha in India is the most cyclone-prone in the country. In the last century, out of the 1,019 cyclonic disturbances in the Indian subcontinent, 890 were along the eastern coast, and of these 260 cyclonic disturbances had their landfall along the Odisha coast. The major cyclones that have hit the state in the last two decades are the 1999 super cyclone, Phailin in 2013 and Titli in 2018.

The 1999 super cyclone claimed around 10,000 lives with winds clocking up to 220km per hour. Without technology and prior warning, the state was rendered helpless. Fast forward 20 years and it has learned from the catastrophe, showing exemplary efficiency, grit and planning in disaster management…