eThekwini, insurer put measures in place to avoid deaths during floods
eThekwini Municipality is trying to take preemptive measures to avoid a repeat of the disaster and deaths caused by the floods earlier this year.
The city has banded with an insurer.
Over 450 people were killed in April when heavy rains battered KwaZulu-Natal.
More than 70 residents are still unaccounted for.
Santam CEO Tavaziva Madzinga says after the floods, they decided to partner with the municipality and give officials access to their Risk and Resilience programme.
"What this programme does is that it allows us as Santam to deploy our very scientific and technical capabilities where we are able to model the land and get a good sense of where do we expect flooding to occur, we can then have a better sense to where infrastructure should come up and infrastructure should cannot come up."
READ: Call for Msunduzi to fix drainage system following flooding
"This initiative also goes a step further to work on the municipalities that where we have informal settlements that we are very clear where those informal settlements and the risks they are exposed to so that we can proactively well ahead of time have a good sense of whether they are in the flood planes where we can expect flooding and then work with the municipalities.
Santam has also donated R4 million worth of firefighting equipment to the city.
It will see some 92 firefighters employed.
eThekwini Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda attended the ceremony at the Verulam Fire Station on Wednesday.
"We are in a better position to protect lives using the high-quality equipment and that equipment will also be assisting us to ensure that we change the way things are done in the previous dispensation."
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