---
title: "Disaster resilience in SA depends on connecting institutions, resources and communities"
description: "To build true disaster resilience there needs to be genuine collaboration between existing institutions and grassroots communities, and the integration of local knowledge and shared responsibility into public safety systems."
type: "OpinionNewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "Opinionistas"
author: "Haseena Majid"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/haseena-majid/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2026-10-09-disaster-resilience-in-sa-depends-on-connecting-institutions-resources-and-communities/"
published: "2026-10-09T13:38:32"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 906
---

# Disaster resilience in SA depends on connecting institutions, resources and communities

> To build true disaster resilience there needs to be genuine collaboration between existing institutions and grassroots communities, and the integration of local knowledge and shared responsibility into public safety systems.

By Haseena Majid · Published 9 October 2026, 15:38 SAST

## Content

In August 2026, catastrophic flooding in [Nepal](https://apnews.com/article/nepal-flood-missing-rescue-ends-death-certificates-d884e240ee256e660403d124619e2620) killed at least 1,455 people, with thousands still missing.

Floods in Mokwa, [Nigeria](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/31/nigeria-floods-death-toll-crosses-150-as-thousands-displaced), killed 151 people and displaced approximately 3,000 others in May 2025. The following July, flooding in [Texas](https://abcnews.com/US/live-updates/texas-flooding-updates-13-dead-20-campers-uned?id=123488468&entryId=123670085) claimed more than 130 lives. Closer to home, more than 100 people died in the [Eastern Cape](https://www.gov.za/news/media-statements/eastern-cape-office-premier-confirms-flood-death-toll-rise-100-24-jun-2025) floods of June 2025. Across these disasters, the loss extended to homes, livelihoods, public infrastructure and the security of entire communities.

As heavy rainfall becomes more intense in a warming climate, resilience must become part of everyday life. The waste discarded into a stormwater drain, the maintenance of that drain, the planning decisions that determine where people live and the protection of surrounding ecosystems all influence disaster risk. Individual behaviour matters, as do municipal services, infrastructure investment and the decisions made across government.

South Africa already has a substantial disaster management system. The Disaster Management Act, National Disaster Management Framework, disaster management centres, coordinating forums and municipal plans establish responsibilities for prevention, preparedness, response and recovery. Legislation recognises community participation, indigenous knowledge and the particular needs of vulnerable groups. Considerable institutional knowledge and experience have accumulated within these arrangements.

The pressing question is how effectively this collective capacity functions when responsibilities intersect. Information about environmental risks, infrastructure, vulnerable households, available resources and community organisations may be held across different institutions. Each may possess valuable knowledge and fulfil its own responsibilities, while the wider system struggles to connect what is known with what needs to happen. A system’s capacity to respond depends on its ability to recognise relationships, understand responsibilities and sustain coordination beyond individual officials.

### Resources

The ability to prepare for a disaster and recover afterwards is closely tied to the resources people have available. Families with insurance, savings and transport have more options to protect themselves and recover. For households facing insecure housing, unemployment or limited access to services, a flood can interrupt schooling, healthcare and income for months or years. The people with the fewest resources often depend most heavily on the quality of collective preparedness and institutional response.

Communities already carry considerable responsibility for their own safety. Neighbours assist with evacuations, civil society organisations mobilise support, and trusted local figures help people navigate emergencies. Trust influences whether warnings are believed, whose advice is followed and where people seek assistance. These relationships hold knowledge about local conditions, traditional practices and the needs of households that may be difficult to capture through formal reporting alone.

The 2026 International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction theme, Resilience Starts at Home, offers an opportunity to reconsider how communities participate in decisions about their safety. Community organisations, traditional knowledge holders and young people have contributions to make throughout planning, implementation and learning. Meaningful collaboration requires space for their knowledge to influence decisions and for institutions to account for what happens afterwards.

Artificial intelligence offers opportunities to improve disaster forecasting, analyse complex risk patterns and support decisions using information from multiple sources. These advances deserve attention, particularly as climate risks become harder to predict and manage. Digital reporting platforms serve a different purpose, helping people communicate incidents, access warnings and request assistance. South Africa’s challenge is to ensure that these investments strengthen the ability of existing institutions to coordinate and respond.

Another reporting app adds little if the information it collects cannot be connected to the people, resources and decisions needed on the ground. Equally, sophisticated AI analysis has limited public value when the institutions expected to act on its findings lack reliable information or clear responsibilities. The question is how we develop intelligence that improves public decisions, whose knowledge informs it and who ultimately benefits.

### Environmental costs

With the International Energy Agency projecting that global data-centre electricity consumption will more than double by 2030, the environmental costs of expanding digital infrastructure also deserve scrutiny.

Building disaster resilience requires intelligence drawn from across government, civil society, businesses and communities, with functional pathways connecting the knowledge, resources and responsibilities held by each.

South Africa’s existing institutional structures provide a foundation for this, although their effectiveness depends on how well these contributions inform decisions and action. Communities are too often treated as beneficiaries of disaster management interventions when they are already collaborators in preparedness, response and recovery.

Recognising their role means creating meaningful opportunities for local knowledge, traditional practices and lived experience to influence decisions, with young people included in shaping the priorities that affect their futures. The government has a responsibility to make these connections work through existing coordination arrangements and to ensure they remain functional beyond individual relationships. The real test is whether this wider intelligence and shared capacity lead to earlier action, better protection and a fairer chance of recovery for people who can least afford another disaster.

The question facing South Africa is how much of our existing capacity remains untapped because institutions and communities cannot consistently draw on one another’s knowledge, resources and experience. Every disaster exposes the cost of these missed connections, particularly for those who have the least capacity to recover.

As we mark International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction, we should be asking what it will take to make shared responsibility work in practice. That means giving communities a genuine place in shaping decisions, strengthening the connections between existing institutions and being willing to test whether our approaches work under real conditions.

Resilience starts at home, but its future depends on what we are prepared to build together. **DM**