Zone 0 is slowly rising again... many questions remain.

(Zone 0 being re-built)

I paid a visit to the Stellenbosch fire department this morning, and a little later went up to Zone 0 and down to the Strongyard hall, to get a feeling for what is going on.

I found a hive of activity at all three places. My impression of the emergency response team at the fire station is, they have a solid emergency plan, and they have taken many details into account… even care for the babies, an emergency mobile clinic, aids medicine and TB precautions, food health and safety and a mobile ID re-registration unit.  

(Clothing being sorted at the fire station)   

The fire station officials confirmed from an aerial photo taken yesterday, that the number of temporary structures (homes) destroyed by the fire was around 1265. If we assume that an average of five people say in each structure, then we get up to 5000+ affected individuals.

I got confirmation from both the fire station and from Zone 0 that people are not sleeping hungry… for now. What does worry me is what will happen in a week, two weeks from now, when the disaster plan is no longer in effect. But for now, the food  IS coming through to the people and clothing to the fire station.

(Strongyard food distribution point)

The first major task that is being carried out by the Stellenbosch emergency relief team, is to register all the victims of the fire. It sounds as if the victims will have to wear well secured arm bracelets, so that they can legitimately claim aid in an organised way. This sounds hectic, but it does make sense.  

(Strongyard aid registration)

What is amazing to see, is how the greater Stellenbosch community is lending a hand to the brothers and sisters in Kayamandi. Many employers are helping their employees back on their feet again. The obvious question is: but what about those people who are unemployed? …which seems to be a pretty high percentage of the people at Zone 0…    

(Wood arriving from some employers to their employees)

Well, this coming Monday those families who have been officially registered, will receive ‘fire kits’ from the folk down at the fire station. A fire kit consists of some iron sheets, wood and nails. The municipality has to fork out around R3000.00 for each of these (which I find surprisingly high by the way). But hey, it is fantastic that these will arrive, and it looks like there should be enough building material for people to rebuild their temporary homes.

It also sounds as if each registered victim of the fire will receive around R1000 in cash, but I did not confirm this with the municipality…

I’ll pop in on Monday afternoon (the 18th) to see how all this is panning out, and to verify if there is enough building material and food and bedding for everyone, or if there is still a shortage…

Ok. Some of the issues that still exist on the ground are water and sanitary facilities (i.e. toilets).

About the toilets, the fire station people said they erected about 30 toilets at Zone 0, but someone or some group nicked them. When I spoke to some residents at Zone 0 they knew nothing about these toilets, and they wondered what people would want to do with stolen toilets in the first place…? In any case, new ones are promised to arrive soon, and this time there will be security personnel looking after these facilities…

In summary then, the immediate needs of the people seem to be met, for now, but many questions are being asked from the residents:

• Why was there no water points close enough for the fire-fighters to plug into?
• Why are we rebuilding another fire hazard?
• Why can’t there be one or more roads built that cut through Zone Zero?
• Why is there not enough decent housing available for the people to live in?
• What about all the stuff inside their houses that the people lost?
• Will they have to keep paying their TV licences?
• What happens when the official “disaster” is over… and the people do not yet have their cooking facilities replaced?

(Mxomisi Mashiya and Thandikhaya Mnyanda

- two of many residents who are asking good questions) 

These are brilliant questions that the people of Zone 0 are asking…

My future updates will be to ensure that everyone has enough food, bedding and building material, and then I think this blog will start exploring these hard questions asked, in much more detail…