Lessons to be learned from Haiti

There are very clear and urgent messages for South Africa and its local authorities to heed from the aftermath of – and run-up to – the devastating earthquake that just about completely destroyed Haiti a week ago. Not only are the dangers very real of a quake of similar strength hitting at least one metropolitan area at any time, but certain underlying factors could lead to not only the damage of the physical environment being devastating and the loss of life horrific, but it could also be a major threat to the social fabric of our society.

Let us first bust the commonly believed myth that the risk for South Africa and Africa in general is a remote one.

While the quake in Haiti was the most severe in 200 years, Cape Town on 4 December 'commemorated' a quake measuring an estimated 6.5 on the Richter scale 200 years ago in 1809. The quake in Haiti measured 7 on the Richter scale.

This fact should be of particular concern to residents of Cape Town’s Milnerton, Table View and Melkbosstrand suburbs, which straddle a major fault line known as the Milnerton Fault. Scientists believe that this fault is due for another significant event.

At the time of the commemoration of the Milnerton quake, "Leadership Intelligence Bulletin" reported that “the rest of South Africa seems equally at risk of experiencing a fairly big earthquake event. Experts say large areas of the African continent are in an unstable, tectonically active state. The most immediate threat, nonetheless, seems to be centred in Cape Town.

"Predictions of an imminent 'big one' became more common after a minor earthquake measuring 3.1 on the Richter scale shook these parts in 2003.”

The day after the 1809 earthquake, people travelled from Cape Town to stare in awe at geysers of muddy water spurting upwards from schisms that had appeared in the earth. The epicentre was in the vicinity of Rietvlei, and the farmhouse at Jan Biesjes Kraal – which stood more or less where the Paddocks Shopping Centre is situated in current-day Milnerton Ridge – was flattened.

The Milnerton Fault runs eight kilometres offshore near Koeberg Nuclear Power Station, through Table View and Milnerton, and on to the Cape Flats and part of False Bay.
Further northeast of Cape Town, a major earthquake in 1969 destroyed many buildings in the towns of Tulbagh and Ceres.

As early as 2005, Chris Hartnady, a former Geology professor at the University of Cape Town and consultant to the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction of the United Nations, this week warned that the huge geological fault had shown signs of again becoming active.

Quake specifications apply throughout Cape Town and all new buildings have to meet the building code. Essentially, it means that concrete about three times the normal strength has to be used in construction.

Previously, however, these requirements were not actively enforced by the city, but in recent times the city has insisted that buildings be earthquake-resistant to a much greater extent.

The South Africa Loading Code specified it was compulsory to build earthquake-resistant buildings in the area that stretches from Langebaan to Tulbagh and Rooi Els, an area identified as being particularly prone to seismic activity.

Years ago, the former BP Centre skyscraper on the Foreshore was one of the few buildings in the city to be built to withstand strong earthquakes. The Koeberg power station further along the coast, built in the early 1980s, was also specifically designed to withstand powerful earthquakes.

It is, however, a fact that the vast majority of buildings in the city, including schools – which have been proved elsewhere in the world to be high-risk sites – do not comply with these requirements.

South Africa would do well to take a leaf out of the book of Manila, which has embarked on a project to make the metro “seismologically sound”. This includes the retrofitting of unsafe buildings and infrastructure such as road bridges. It is also placing rescue equipment under every Metro Manila bridge to ensure unhampered rescue operations in the case of a disaster. The equipment could be used to dig people out of collapsed structures, if required.

Socio-economic lessons

As important as the lessons regarding the need for preparedness in terms of physical infrastructure and logistics networks, are those related to socio-economic factors.
Many reports on the latest natural disaster in Haiti – number 49 in a mere 18 years – vividly illustrate that the poor are always hit the worst by these disasters.

Even in Haiti, where very few inhabitants cannot be counted among the poorest in the world, the latest disaster is putting tremendous strain on the cohesiveness of the society, and conflict is rife for scarce life-sustaining resources and aid that is difficult to come by.

It does not take much imagination to realise the conflict potential locked up in the fact that most of South Africa’s very modern metropolitan cores are surrounded and spotted by scanty towns. If this social divide is not  bridged successfully during the good times, the country’s ability to survive the bad times, which will definitely come, will be diminished greatly.

As far back as September 2004, when the tropical storm Jeanne caused widespread destruction in Haiti, some experts pleaded that local firms and entrepreneurs should be included in the rebuilding process to be part of the economic opportunities and development that, throughout history, have been a byproduct of natural disasters.

All indications are that, sadly, this lesson was not learned and the advice not heeded at the time. There is no reason to believe that it will be different this time around.

For South Africa, the lesson is that the broader community and its entrepreneurs should be part of whatever disaster management plans and preparations are being put in place. It creates, among others, expertise and knowledge within the community, which could be of great assistance if it should be forced into survival mode.

Another lesson that South African local authorities can learn from Manila is the network of four million volunteers that has been created nationwide. This network could be critical to the implementation of preparedness and risk-reduction strategies.

During the 1970s and ‘80s, South Africa had vibrant civil defence structures at local government level, with co-ordination at national level. They also linked up with schools and community institutions and organisations. A quick inquiry, however, seems to indicate that these structures have fallen largely into disuse or in some instances have disappeared completely.