10 Jul 2016

The director of the National Disaster Management Office, Mr Moagi Baleseng says the mandate of his office is to coordinate, organise and deal with national disasters locally and internationally.

Speaking in an interview, Mr Baleseng said some of the programmes were geared at awareness preparedness, response, assistance or help and the protection of developments that have been carried out around the country.

He said his office was working with other government departments and ministries such as agriculture, health, roads, education, Botswana Red Cross Association and others.

Mr Baleseng noted that there were committees that link all stakeholders and that they were responsible for assessing the environmental impact before allocation of land or any development was done.

He said the committees were headed by senior officials, district commissioners, land boards and dikgosi.

“Most common disasters in Botswana are fire, floods, torrential rains, winds, earth quakes, drought and others,” said Mr Baleseng.

He also said in creating awareness, they conduct kgotla meetings around the country, use billboards and create public awareness through radio, television and newspapers.

On the other hand, he said they have a relief fund and that all those who wish to contribute to the fund could contact their office.

He said regular maintenance of fire breakers was done in order to prevent the spread of wild fires, adding that fire breakers reduce the risk of fire from spreading over a large area.ENDS