We seem not ready for disaster

Mmegi Editor | Wednesday April 5, 2017 11:11

The case in point is the recent earthquake which seemed to have caught all of us by surprise.

Instead the international media was the one giving out information relating to the quake.

Reuters news organisation was on top of the issue. Here at home even the government spokesperson, Jeff Ramsay cold only acknowledge the after effects of the quake as he was quoted.

We should count ourselves lucky that no casualties we reported after Monday night’s quake.

Batswana found themselves running helter skelter not knowing what to do as the quake hit unexpected.

It was only after the quake that some information came out to educate Batswana as to what to do when an earthquake hits. That people should not try to run outside but rather find safe place under tables and beds.

The nation needs to be assured as to whether to sleep with one eye open or not. Most importantly we need to educate Batswana on all natural disasters and not just rains and veldt fires.

The National Disaster Management Office needs to be empowered to be able to deal with all forms of natural disasters.

We recently saw the office fail to match the needs of people in the Gweta area after the heavy rains. Clearly we will need much more resources in case of an earthquake hence the need to equip them with the right resources.

One can only assume that the government had nothing to offer and we need to thank God that nothing bad happened as we seem not to be bothered.

We saw South African media houses shortly after the happenings update people with the help of experts. For us to just sit back is reckless.

We also hope that the media will be brought on board to be taught about these disasters so they can disseminate the information to Batswana.

 We now know that being a landlocked country does not mean we are safe from disasters and we now need to educate our people.

There is no better way to reach people when there is still something fresh that occurred. Lets do it now and not when it is too late.

 

Today’s thought 

“I used to sleep nude - until the earthquake.” 

- Alyssa Milano