The South African government has deployed personnel to begin restoration efforts after the region was devastated by disastrous flooding that has killed at least 440 people in the KwaZulu-Natal province.
On Monday, a week after the beginning of the torrential rains, the South African National Defense Force (SANDF) said that it was instructed to activate 10,000 troops for tasks that include mop-up work and transporting aid to affected residents. The agency would also provide medical support and helicopters that will conduct rescue and reconnaissance missions.
Devastating South African Floods
The powerful floods have left thousands of people in the region without a home, knocked out power and water services in the region, and disrupted operations at one of the nation's busiest ports, Durban. President Cyril Ramaphosa said that his Cabinet had already declared a national state of disaster due to the floods and extreme weather that rocked several other provinces.
The official's order would allow federal agencies and personnel to conduct a more effective response to the crisis. Ramaphosa said that the nation's finance minister would approach parliament over further spending to add to the $67 million that was immediately available, as per Reuters.
Officials reported that the flooding and resulting mudslides have displaced more than 40,000 residents and destroyed nearly 4,000 homes. They added that more than 40 people remain missing and 600 schools have been damaged costing a total of roughly $28 million.
Authorities also ordered the distribution of water tankers to areas where access to clean water has been disrupted and teams were struggling to restore electricity. Two weeks ago, South Africa lifted its national state of disaster over the COVID-19 pandemic that has been in effect since March 2020.
According to Fox News, on Monday, President Ramaphosa said that there would be no room for corruption, mismanagement, or fraud of any sort in the government's response. The remark comes after the state's Special Investigating Unit uncovered widespread corruption in state funds that were supposed to assist in the country's response to the coronavirus health crisis.
Rescue Efforts
A professor of physical geography at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, Jasper Knight, said that South Africa and other developing countries were victims of insufficient funds when it came to protecting the poorest of their societies.
Many of the victims of the recent flooding were living in settlements of flimsy shacks that were constructed by people who could not afford stable housing. Some of the death and destruction occurred in communities of small, cube-like homes that sat in valleys near rivers or clung to hillsides.
Images throughout eThekwini, the municipality that includes Durban and many surrounding suburbs, showed the devastation of the rains and mudslides. Ramaphosa noted that on top of rescue missions, another critical effort was the provision of water, food, and shelter to people in badly damaged communities.
While the floods in Durban are considered one of the country's deadliest natural disasters to date, part of the reason so many residents died is believed to be man-made. Some argue that it is the nation's failure to deal with a longstanding housing crisis to blame for some of the fatalities, the New York Times reported.
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