Capricorn District Municipality (CDM) held its International Day for Disaster Reduction (IDDR) at Ga Kgare in Molemole on the 30th October 2015.
On the 22nd of December 1989, the UN General Assembly designated the second Wednesday of October every year as the International day for Disaster Risk Reduction. Over the years October 13 each year is use to commemorate International Day for Disaster Reduction.
Fire Prevention Week was established to commemorate the Great Chicago Fire, the tragic 1871 conflagration that killed more than 250 people, left 100,000 homeless, destroyed more than 17,400 structures and burned more than 2,000 acres. The fire began on October 8, but continued into and did most of its damage on October 9, 1871.
These two important days are meant as an opportunity for the Municipalities to raise awareness on Disaster Risk Reduction and Fire Risks and also is to promote global culture of disaster risk reduction especially at remote areas.
The objective of this commemoration is to advocate and present a plan that will set out priorities for disaster risk reduction. Amongst these priorities are those activities and programmes that deal with disaster and fire risk reduction and disaster management communications, information, education and training advocacy, and public awareness for raising political will and commitment and the profile of disaster prevention programmes.
The International Strategy for Disaster Reduction Campaign theme for 2012- 2015 is Making Municipality Resilient: My Municipality is getting ready”, the 2015 IDDR theme is “Knowledge for Life” and the Fire Prevention Week “Home Fire Safety “.
This strategy is implemented to empower local government and other agencies to implement the Hyogo Framework for action 2005-2015: Building the disaster resilience of Nations and communities and Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. Risk reduction is the spectrum of activities ranging from disaster preparedness to disaster resilient, building practices that aim to limit the impact of natural and anthropogenic (man-made) hazards on communities.
The CDM Disaster and Emergency Services used the 06th October to 30th October 2015 to host build up events for Fire Prevention Week and International Disaster Day for Disaster Reduction in the 4 other local municipalities within the District, namely Lepelle Nkumpi, Aganang, Blouberg and Polokwane.
“As we are facing draughts, we are at a high risk of experiencing field fires and other natural disasters, it is therefore very important that we stay alert of such & use CDM toll free numbers in case of emergency, with the knowledge equipped here today, kindly go back home and share it with others, they also need to know about it,” CDM Member Of Mayoral Committee (MMC) for Community Services, Councillor Betty Kgare said. The focus theme for CDM in the month of October 2015 was “Knowledge for Life for Home Safety”