News over the last week has been filled with the eruption and ensuing ash cloud from the volcano Eyjafjallajokull (Yes apparently that’s its name!) in Iceland. The volcano has of course had significant impact on the communities and farmers surrounding it particularly those downwind and images have shown the ground covered in several inches of ash.
Who however would have predicted the broader ramifications of this natural disaster? Major airports across large parts of Europe have been closed for fear of the affect the ash may have upon sensitive jet engines. This has left literally tens of thousands of people stranded around the globe and according to IATA (The International Air Transport Association) has cost the airline industry some US $ 1.7 Billion.
BBC world service radio in the Africa region has been covering other stories that relate to the impact of this closing of European airspace for example the cut flower industry in Kenya that relies on international flights to take its products, primarily fresh roses, to market in saleable condition, apparently the fresh flower industry in Kenya is losing more than a million US$ a day!
Locally the SBC news has cited how imports of fresh produce for hotels has been severely affected and showed the empty shelves of ISPC, a major importer, to highlight the situation. Though I have yet to hear any figures or news on fishery exports there must also presumably have been an impact of the export of fresh fish to the European restaurant market an important high-profit market for local fishers, not to mention of course the affect upon tourism revenue!
Today (21/04/10) the news is of airports slowly opening up again but even if all goes well the back log is expected to take weeks to clear – in the meantime there is concern that the volcano may be increasing its ash output and there are further fears that this activity may trigger eruptions in the second much larger Katla volcano nearby!
All this goes to show how interconnected we all are in this global economy and how disasters even thousands of miles away can have ramifications for Seychelles. It is clearly important for isolated countries like Seychelles to optimise their levels of self-sufficiency and investigate their vulnerability to even less likely occurrences and identify what pragmatic steps can be taken to build resilience into our infrastructure, services and economy.
In 2007 the Department of Risk and Disaster Management (DRDM) undertook a capacity needs assessment for disaster management and early warning in Seychelles. The worst case scenario used in this exercise was a hurricane hitting the east coast of Mahe. Now whilst Seychelles lies outside of the hurricane belt it can expect every few hundred years to be hit by one – it is believed for example that the 1862 “la Valasse” – a famous historical disaster in Seychelles that caused considerable loss of life (see post of January 11th for further details) - may have been caused by a tropical depression. The east coast of Mahe constitutes the main storage, power generating, communications, travel and services infrastructure of the country as well as the main population concentration; all this along the narrow low-lying coastal plain. The east coast is therefore highly vulnerable to such an event even if the risk is rather low.
The current Seychelles Disaster Preparedness and Response Project will be seeking to address some of these concerns in particular under the development of disaster contingency plan for the Industrial sector. Initial consultations with key stakeholders in this domain have commenced so do check back periodically for updates...
Disaster risk reduction management in Seychelles is a very broad concept. And when some disaster does occur it will no doubt come in a form least expected. It's good to discuss those issues but how prepared can the Seychelles really be?
ReplyDeleteIf disaster cannot be averted, the question is can it be minimized? Talking is the easy part, but how much will get done? Good luck to all involved in this worthy project.