In the immediate aftermath of the floods in KwaZulu-Natal, we'll want to know who is to blame. Well its not nature, writes Dewald van Niekerk.
This narrative thatBlaming nature is a convenient way of absconding any responsibility. Such a belief shows a very narrow understanding of how disasters and disaster risks are created, and it leaves us powerless in the face of increasing natural phenomena.
Unemployment, poverty, inequality, corruption, uncontrollable urbanisation, poor urban planning and haphazard development, inadequate robust public infrastructure, little to no maintenance of infrastructure, questionable housing construction and enforcing of building codes, absence of disaster risk reduction, settling on marginal land including slopes , destroying wetland and estuaries, removing vegetation in landslide prone areas, poor disaster preparedness, are some of these underlying...
Until there is a realisation and acknowledgement that we are the creators of disaster risk and that disasters are the making of human beings, we will continue to see disasters of this magnitude for years to come.