2 hours ago
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No sooner had reports of scores of motorists stuck in a snow blizzard on the N3 over the weekend surfaced, a public debate ensued about why travellers undertook road trips despite several warnings earlier in the week about expected severe weather.
Emotive as it may have been, that debate is neither here nor there.
People will move, knowingly or in oblivion, compelled by different life circumstances. Realistically, this can hardly be avoided.
A more important conversation to be had is whether our public service is adequately prepared to assess, plan for and respond to natural disasters of this magnitude and more.
By Sunday morning one person had died in KwaZulu-Natal after being exposed to severe cold in a taxi, as hundreds of people spent more than 24 hours in icy conditions. They ran out of food, water and necessities while stuck on the roads.
The tragedy quickly became the subject of a heated debate about the extent to which people are connected to sources of public information and what responsibility we should take as individuals to keep safe in potentially life-threatening situations.
Granted, we each must shoulder the responsibility to be informed about the world around us to make appropriate decisions about our movements.
However, equally important is to ask whether our government services had a reasonable appreciation of the severity of the weather conditions, what plans were in place to mitigate a disaster and to respond with the requisite speed to help those who found themselves in trouble.
Anecdotally, it appears that there was little to no proactive plan in place for the foreseeable eventuality on the N3, and the response from public services to what was unfolding was, at least initially, lethargic.
In typical SA fashion, many good samaritans jumped to the rescue on Saturday, to lend a hand to the stranded.
Individuals nearby rolled up their sleeves to help people access food and safety, while organisations such as the Gift of the Givers pulled up to cater to people.
Indeed, we must commend all who stepped up to help.
However, as seen with recent floods and other natural disasters, severe weather patterns are increasingly becoming our norm.
Do we have a proactive and adequate response public machinery to minimise threats to human life?
