By Akani Nkuna
The South African Weather Service is discussing ways to improve disaster preparedness by making early warnings more accessible and understandable.
The issuing of early warnings for weather hazards is an essential step in disaster risk reduction.
“There are events where we are very successful [in mitigating the hazards when issuing early warning]. For instance, if you remember in 2017, those heavy floods in Durban the warning was given three days before.
“Of course, the challenge is that depending on the magnitude of the impact, it was said that the amount of time was little, but we tried. There are those events where we will actually issue way in advance,” said SAWS meteorologist Puseletso Mofokeng.
The Government Communication and Information System and the SAWS convened a roundtable discussion in Centurion to address extreme weather patterns. They focused on the Early Warnings for All (EW4LL) initiative to enhance public preparedness for severe weather events.
Vox Weather meteorologist Annette Botha emphasised that a multi-stakeholder approach involving government, SAWS, disaster management, private organisations and local communities, was essential for addressing the devastating consequences of extreme weather.
“At Vox Weather we are trying to work to make weather information accessible, engaging and impactful for everyone. So, we want to bring water forecasting into the digital space, creating it in a way that is understandable, more vibrant updates that can reach anyone, anywhere, when it comes to early weather warnings,” she said.
Botha also outlined that early warnings should not only disseminate information, but also motivate individuals to take proactive measures, and has called for the simplification of the process for the basic understanding of the public.
“Early warnings should not just inform but ought to inspire action…,” she said.
“There are still people who find it confusing and we perhaps we ought to outline how we simplify the process, educating people about the different warning levels, as we know that early warnings are only as effective as the public’s ability to act on it,” Botha added.
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