July 10, 2023

Early warning systems avert avoidable disasters

topic:	Natural disaster
located:	South Africa
editor:	Bob Koigi

In the recent past, Africa has had to contend with extreme weather events that have claimed lives, disrupted livelihoods and shone the spotlight on the realities of the devastating impacts of climate change. 

From severe cyclones in Southern Africa to floods in West Africa, wildfires in Northern and Central Africa and prolonged dry spells in Eastern Africa that led to one of the most crippling droughts in decades, these climate change-induced phenomena have redefined the 21st-century climate scene.

For example, in the first months of 2022, a series of cyclones hit Southern African countries, claiming the lives of some 890 people and affecting an extra 2.8 million with attendant effects such as malnutrition and waterborne diseases. 

As communities across the globe experience such weather changes more frequently, researchers say people in small island states, Africa, South Asia, and South and Central America are 15 times more likely to die from weather-related disasters. 

According to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), recorded disasters have become five times more frequent in the past 50 years, primarily sparked by human-led climate change. If nothing is done, these events are poised to grow to 560 every year or 1.5 every day by 2030. 

As the world watches these catastrophes unfold, half of its countries are still missing these requisite early warning systems that are critical to saving lives. In Africa, only 40% of the continent has such systems, some of which have quality issues. 

Countries that have invested in robust early warning systems have one-eighth the disaster mortality of those with limited or no coverage. The Global Commission on Adaptation asserts that investing $800 million in these systems, especially in developing countries, can avoid losses of $3 to 16 billion annually. 

The Early Warnings for All Executive Action Plan is a laudable development. The UN-led strategy seeks to extend early warning coverage to all the world’s people by 2027, leveraging the low-cost benefits of pre-emptive disaster strategies that would particularly benefit the world’s most vulnerable.

But for the plan to work and reach a critical mass, it must be inclusive, people-centred and alive to the fact that disasters respect no boundaries. Therefore, coordination among national, regional and international entities in information and resource sharing must be matched with coordinated disaster management on the ground.

Photo by Dibakar Roy

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