17 Jul 2014

Residents of Artesia recently approved the plan from the Risk and Vulnerability Assessment (RVA) committee which outlined various risks and challenges likely to affect the village.

Kgosi George Thwane, a member of the RVA committee, said after a workshop that they went through last year, an assessment was conducted to identify the challenges that the residents of Artesia were facing. He said the assessment was carried out with the help of the National Disaster Management Office (NDMO).

Kgosi Thwane said all the four wards were consulted including house to house contacts to identify risks the residents were likely to face as well as identifying vulnerable individuals.

Initially, he said, 23 risks were identified that could put the lives of residents in danger but they were later scaled down to eight.Kgosi Thwane said the committee was to identify structural and non-structural measures to mitigate and reduce the risk of disasters in the village and in turn suggest these to the District Disaster Management Committee (DDMC).

The chairperson of the RVA committee, Mr Khan Masau presented the eight risks and vulnerability challenges that were identified by his committee. He said they spent two days consulting the community before identifying the possible risks, noting that every risk would have a lead person who has knowledge in that field.

Mr Masau, who is the headmaster at Artesia Junior School, said the RVA Plan was not for individual wards but for the entire village.He said the other risks that were not in the top eight would not be abandoned but would be channeled to the right authority.

The risks identified included floods, veld fires, road accidents, assaults, dusty roads, arsons, strong winds and water locked roads. Residents applauded the committee for finding it fitting to consult with them in identifying matters that were likely to put their life at risk. They said the plan should be implemented as soon as possible and without fail. ENDS