Nemakonde Livhuwani D, Kunguma Olivia
Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa.
Disaster Management Training and Education Centre for Africa, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa.
Jamba. 2024 Oct 31;16(1):1689. doi: 10.4102/jamba.v16i1.1689. eCollection 2024.
Legislation provides a framework for effective and coordinated disaster preparedness and response. This article evaluates the strengths and shortcomings of South Africa's disaster risk management (DRM) legislation in guiding the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since its promulgation in 2002, South Africa's DRM legislation has been hailed as one of the most progressive legislations globally. However, the severe respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, commonly known as the COVID-19 pandemic, exposed inadequacies in most existing DRM legislation worldwide, including in South Africa. This led to an inadequate response to the pandemic. A content-based literature review was conducted. Forty-nine peer-reviewed articles, reports, op-eds and newspaper articles were included in the review. The review highlighted significant inadequacies of South African DRM legislation, including the placement of the National Disaster Management Centre and the establishment of new structures for COVID-19 response. Based on the findings of this study, disaster managers, as the primary implementers of the disaster management legislation, must motivate the constant review of the disaster management legislation as a way of mitigating social, economic, political and environmental impacts of disasters, which emanate from the inadequacies existing in the disaster legislation.
The study's findings contribute to the effective management of the disaster management fraternity by suggesting amendment of the legislation based on the experience during the pandemic. The recommendations made to disaster managers will assist with responding appropriately to future pandemics and other disasters.
立法为有效的、协调一致的备灾和应对工作提供了框架。本文评估了南非灾害风险管理（DRM）立法在指导应对新冠疫情方面的优势与不足。自2002年颁布以来，南非的灾害风险管理立法一直被誉为全球最先进的立法之一。然而，严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2（即俗称的新冠疫情）暴露了包括南非在内的全球大多数现有灾害风险管理立法的不足之处。这导致对疫情的应对不力。开展了一项基于内容的文献综述。该综述纳入了49篇经过同行评审的文章、报告、专栏文章和报纸文章。该综述突出了南非灾害风险管理立法的重大不足之处，包括国家灾害管理中心的设置以及为应对新冠疫情而设立的新架构。基于本研究的结果，作为灾害管理立法主要实施者的灾害管理者必须推动对灾害管理立法进行持续审查，以此减轻灾害立法中存在的不足所引发的灾害对社会、经济、政治和环境的影响。
该研究结果通过建议根据疫情期间的经验对立法进行修订，有助于灾害管理界的有效管理。向灾害管理者提出的建议将有助于对未来的疫情和其他灾害做出适当应对。
