often nature’s fury is fast and comes about without warning. The flash floods in Dire Dawa and in southern Ethiopia have left hundreds dead and thousands displaced in their wake. As recent experiences indicate floods are among the most frequent and costly natural disasters in terms of human hardship and economic loss.
Floods are not on top of the list of problems ailing Ethiopia but the events of the past weeks can only be seen as indications that the threat of floods could move up on the list very fast. Environmental degradation is one of the reasons that floods are becoming a growing threat with an estimated 200,000 hectares of natural trees being cut down every year mostly for fuel, farmlands and furniture in Ethiopia. Various attempts have been made to curb this problem but with little success as livelihoods are threatened. A move should be made to look for alternatives in which our fast decreasing forests are replenished and communities look for better alternatives whereby irreversible damage is made on the environment.
The question one has to ask is “how prepared is the Ethiopian government to tackle such disasters of this magnitude?” It has always been the order of the days that Ethiopia battled disaster situations like those of famines of the seventies, eighties and the nineties, but has the government institutions learnt from the past experiences and devised ways at offsetting them? Is there an actual natural disaster response plan. Surely following public outcries in Indonesia and the US for late warning and inadequate management of the disasters the government must have taken notes.
Although disaster preparedness issues can take a toll on the resources of even the strongest of nations simple things such as enhancing communication between those who follow up on metrological events and decision makers need to happen. Even those that had taken even supper power countries such the United States for instance in the Hurricane Katrina season, it would be totally unreasonable to assume that Ethiopia which has had many natural calamities could be forgiven if at all it had not given some degree of efforts to remain prepared for such incidences. In this regard, the government seems to have underestimated of natural calamities specially “floods” and remained ill prepared to respond swiftly. As indications of more rains and probably more flooding are coming the test would be if the Ethiopian government catches on quickly.
In the same token, one has to understand such a task is not up to the government alone but requires a concerted effort from the society as whole to change the mindset and become more proactive in matters of the environment.
Infrastructure and settlement issues need to be looked into, as most of the damage from the flash floods were in areas that were prone to such catastrophes. Although the government has tried to be active in putting up flood reservoirs to minimize the impact of flooding, communities should also join the bandwagon by filling up of reservoirs and combat erosions and deforestation. flood hazards should also be made known though floods occur and will occur in the future, communities that are prone to flooding need to be educated on how to avoid disasters by settling on higher ground. As one learns about his or her area’s flood risk as well as elevation the damage if flooding occurs could be greatly minimized.
The government should also look at ways where future such disasters can be averted such as setting up reliable early warning mechanism similar to that used by the Disaster and Preparedness and Prevention Agency in regards to droughts. Also try to jump start initiatives that have been signed and not followed through one particular initiative comes to mind here ‘The Golden Spear initiative’ which countries in eastern and Central Africa have signed with the US to work together in times of natural disasters and terrorism among other things. As always the culprit here is the lack of initiative to follow through on commitments in which parties have signed into. Delays in providing emergency food, water, shelter and medicines can sometimes do more damage than the actual disaster as stranded victims could suffer extensively being exposed to the elements as well as water borne diseases.
One has to note here that outpouring of donations from individuals, donors and organizations has been remarkable. But focus need also be made for long-term efforts repair and rebuild areas that have been devastated by the floods and will probably need even greater immediate response lasting months, perhaps even years. Testing times like these often bring out the best in a nation as well as humanity in general one has ask why solidarity cannot apply in other spheres as well?
Strong policies in regards to the environments need to be ratified and endorsed on multilateral levels, as environmental crises know no boundaries. These policies should not be signed and simply discarded but enforced with an iron hand. As demands on the planet continue to mount so too will the risk of natural disaster increase. all of us should understand that assigning responsibility to others is not a solution but rather shunning responsibility.