Mthatha<\/p>\n
The Eastern Cape Provincial Government has called on families who are still searching for missing loved ones in the areas affected by last month\u2019s catastrophic floods, to come forward with information to assist ongoing recovery efforts.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour information is vital to help rescue teams determine if any individuals are still unaccounted for and to continue their search efforts,\u201d Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC, Zolile Williams, said during a media briefing on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Giving an update on the provincial disaster management response and recovery, Williams reported that the total number of people who lost their lives remains at 103, with 100 of them being positively identified and laid to rest with dignity.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne child is still missing, and the rescue teams are still searching. Three bodies remain unclaimed, two of which have not been positively identified through the national population register.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe deceased include five government employees, one educator and two nurses, as well as two firefighters from the Department of Transport,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n
Williams said the province has established a dedicated task team to assist bereaved families with the coordination of burial services support for all the deceased.<\/p>\n
\u201cGovernment burial support was provided ranging from death registrations with Home Affairs, South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) and the Department of Education\u2019s funeral support funding to families of deceased learners, distribution of groceries to needy families, [and] provision of burial services by AVBOB, as per need of the affected families,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n
Relief was also extended to survivors and families of the deceased through coordinated Social Relief of Distress (SRD) measures.<\/p>\n
Over 1 300 displaced accommodated across centres\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n The MEC announced that more than 1 353 displaced individuals have been accommodated across Mass Care Centres, while 122 are in Temporary Emergency Accommodation (TEA), prioritising the most vulnerable groups, with full access to healthcare, food, sanitation, dignity packs, mattresses, blankets, and school uniforms.<\/p>\n He said more than 6 869 households across the province were affected by the disaster, with 4 724 homes completely destroyed and 2 145 partially damaged.<\/p>\n In response, the Departments of Social Development, Health, Education, and the African Social Security Agency (SASSA), along with non-governmental organisations, such as Al Imdaad and Gift of the Givers, provided emergency relief to the affected families and individuals.<\/p>\n \u201cBeneficiaries were issued SASSA food vouchers to alleviate immediate food insecurity. To date, more than 1 353 displaced individuals have been accommodated across Mass Care Centres and 122 in Temporary Emergency Accommodation, prioritising the most vulnerable groups, with full access to healthcare, food, sanitation, dignity packs, mattresses, blankets, and school uniforms.<\/p>\n \u201cNumbers at Mass Care Centres are decreasing as people either seek shelter with their relatives or go back to their houses as they become habitable. Additionally, over 2 900 beneficiaries have received psychosocial support and dignity services through mobile teams and social workers deployed across the hardest-hit areas,\u201d the MEC said.<\/p>\n The Department of Home Affairs has mobilised to assist disaster survivors in rebuilding their lives.<\/p>\n A total of 1 197 ID card applications have been received and are being processed, while 103 birth certificate applications have been finalised, with 22 certificates already collected by applicants. One hundred deaths certificates have also been registered and issued.<\/p>\n Recovery and resilience plan underway\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Despite the challenges, the MEC confirmed that recovery plans are well underway. A key focus is on a multi-pronged approach to rebuilding and improving the province\u2019s resilience.<\/p>\n \u201cInfrastructure reconstruction will be prioritised and aligned with risk reduction principles, ensuring greater resilience against future disasters. For the next two-three months, it is critical for government to have made strides in the implementation of infrastructure repair projects.<\/p>\n \u201cThe provincial government is also intensifying climate resilience planning and strengthening institutional capacity, including the debriefing and support of frontline responders, to ensure readiness and sustainability in future disaster responses,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n The province is also in engagement with potential partners to build the much-needed capacity.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile we support the victims of this disaster to rebuild their lives, it is equally important that we continue debriefing of teams that are involved in our response and recovery project. We remain indebted to these teams for the work they are doing,\u201d Williams said. \u2013\u00a0SAnews.gov.za<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mthatha The Eastern Cape Provincial Government has called on families who are still searching for<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1409,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pixleyindependent.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pixleyindependent.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pixleyindependent.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pixleyindependent.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pixleyindependent.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1408"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pixleyindependent.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1408\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1411,"href":"https:\/\/pixleyindependent.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1408\/revisions\/1411"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pixleyindependent.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pixleyindependent.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pixleyindependent.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pixleyindependent.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}