NAME: BRENDA MUKUNG

REG. NO: K59/48912/2012

UNIT CODE: KDC 302

DISASTER MANAGEMENT IN KENYA

The United Nations defines a disaster as a serious disruption of the functioning of a

community or a society. Disasters involve widespread human, material, economic or

environmental impacts, which exceed the ability of the affected community or society to cope

using its own resources. Disasters are often described as a result of combination of exposure to a

hazard, condition of vulnerability that is present and insufficient capacities or measures to reduce

or cope with the potential negative consequences. There is no country that is immune from

disaster, though vulnerability to disaster varies and Kenya is not different. Impacts of a disaster

may include loss of life, diseases and other negative effects on human physical, mental and

social wellbeing together with damage to property, destruction of assets, loss of services, social

and economic disruption and environmental degradation.

Disaster management according to Red Cross and Red Crescent societies is the

organization and management of resources and responsibilities for dealing with all humanitarian

aspects of emergencies, in particular preparedness, response and recovery in order to lessen the

impact of disasters. Disaster management is linked with sustainable development, particularly in

relation to vulnerable people such as those with disabilities, elderly people, children and other

marginalized groups. According to the United Nation Development Programme (UNDP), 1992,

the central paradigm of the integrated approach towards disaster management can be viewed in a

common timeframe cutting across natural hazards and technological hazards as a sequence of

phases each being amenable to a specific type of intervention. Local, regional, national and

international organizations are all involved in mounting a humanitarian response to disasters.

Each will have a prepared disaster management plan covering prevention, preparedness, relief

and recovery.

Disaster prevention: These are activities designed to provide permanent protection from

disasters. Not all disasters, particularly natural disasters, can be prevented, but the risk of loss of

life and injury can be mitigated with good evacuation plans, environmental planning and design

standards.

Disaster preparedness: These activities are designed to minimize loss of life and damage –

for example by removing people and property from a threatened location and by facilitating

timely and effective rescue, relief and rehabilitation. Preparedness is the main way of reducing

the impact of disasters.

Disaster relief: This is a coordinated multi-agency response to reduce the impact of a disaster

and its long-term results. Relief activities include rescue, relocation, providing food and water,

preventing disease and disability, repairing vital services such as telecommunications and

transport, providing temporary shelter and emergency health care.

Disaster recovery: Once emergency needs have been met and the initial crisis is over, the

people affected and the communities that support them are still vulnerable. Recovery activities

include rebuilding infrastructure, health care and rehabilitation. These should blend with

development activities, such as building human resources for health and developing policies and

practices to avoid similar situations in future.

Kenya’s landscape covers a total of 583 000 sq. km and is grouped into geographical zones

including; the Savannah Lands covering most of the arid and semi- arid areas, the Coastal

Margin, the Rift Valley, the Highlands and the Lake Victoria Basin. With a growth rate of 3.1%

the population stands at approximately 29 million people. Declining economic growth in general,

coupled with a high population growth have lowered living standards and left sizeable numbers

of the population poor and vulnerable to both natural and man-made disasters. The country’s

geographical set up has also contributed much to regular if not permanent hazards in some areas.

When these disasters interact with vulnerable communities they cause suffering of varying

magnitudes. This has affected the economic development effectively lowering the development

of these areas.

According to the Kenya Natural Hazard Profile by the United Nation Development

Programme, Kenya experiences a number of natural hazards, the most common being weather

related, including floods, droughts, landslides, lightening/thunderstorms, wild fires, and strong

winds. Other hazards experienced in Kenya include HIV/AIDS, and conflict. In the recent past

these hazards have increased in number, frequency and complexity. The level of destruction has

also become more severe with more deaths of people and animals, loss of livelihoods,

destruction of infrastructure among other effects.

The Arid and semi-arid lands of Kenya make up more than 80% of Kenya’s land mass,

support nearly half of the livestock population of the country and over 30% of the total human

population. The Arid and Semi-arid Lands (ASALs) are prone to harsh weather conditions

rendering the communities within this region vulnerable to natural hazards, mainly droughts. The

ASALS, due to their fragile ecosystems, unfavorable climate, poor infrastructure and historical

marginalization represent a major development challenge for the affected populations, the

Government of Kenya and its development.

Drought is the most prevalent natural hazard in Kenya affecting mainly Eastern, North

Eastern, parts of Rift Valley and coast Provinces. This is due to its peculiar eco climatic

conditions. Floods seasonally affect various parts of the country especially along the flood

plains in the Lake Victoria basin and in Tana River while landslides are experienced during the

long rains season running from March to May especially in Murang’a district and areas

surrounding the Mount Kenya region.

The Kenya National Disaster Operation Centre (NDOC) was established in 1998 by an act of

parliament to act as the focal point for coordinating response to emergencies and disasters in

Kenya.

Table 1: Recent History of Natural Disasters in Kenya

Year Type of Natural

disaster

Area of

Coverage

No. Of People

affected2004 Drought Widespread 2-3 Million2004 Landslides Nyeri, Othaya,

Kihuri

5 deaths

2002 Landslides Meru Central,

Muranga, Nandi

2,000

2002 Floods Nyanza, Busia,

Tana river basin

150,000

1999/2000 Drought Widespread 4.4 million

1997/1998 El Nino Flood Widespread 1.5 million1995/96 Drought Widespread 1.41 million1991/92 Drought Arid and semi-Arid

districts of NE, Rift

Valley, Eastern

and Coast

1.5 million

1985 Floods Nyanza and

Western

10,000

1983/84 Drought Widespread 200,0001982 Floods Nyanza 4,0001980 Drought Widespread 40,0001977 Drought Widespread 20,0001975 Drought Widespread 16,000

Source: Republic of Kenya (2004), National Policy on Disaster Management (Revised Draft) p4,

Nairobi, Kenya.

Many Kenyans are exposed to a wide range of hazards in the natural or man-made

environment that adversely affect their lives and property. The most devastating impacts of

disasters are in human settlements, especially those of the poor and disadvantaged communities,

who are the majority of our society. In these areas, the sense of preparedness is least and relief

lowest.

Although there is a National policy on Disaster Management in Kenya, there has been a

clear disjoint in disaster management. Over the years there have been alternating occurrences of

floods and droughts, warnings from the meteorological department over time fallen on deaf ears

and no action has been taken to improve the situation of disaster prevention in the country. Over

and over again there have been families displaced in Budalangi and although activities are in

place to create dykes to control the floods, past failures to map out the flood prone areas and plan

for evacuation in time has shown that the preventive aspect of disaster management is wanting in

the country.

Disasters are more likely when there is less or absolutely no emergency preparedness

plan or there is zero or minimal mitigating measures in place. On the other hand while we might

not be able to prevent some disasters we should be prepared to handle them when they arise but

that has not been the case; the slow response to the Sinai tragedy by Kenya’s disaster response

team showed the government’s inadequacy in responding to disasters of high magnitude.

Kenya’s rescue teams in many occasions have failed to live up to their billing by either arriving

late at tragedy struck scenes or making it on time but half equipped hence failing to counter the

tragedy. Failure by the Government to put in place a comprehensive disaster preparedness policy

has made responses to high-risk events such as droughts, floods, epidemics, fire and major

accidents, slow, poorly coordinated and unnecessarily expensive that even at some point lead to

more problems. If the Sinai inferno is anything to go by, the Government is far from ready to

handle future disasters. The flames that claimed more than a hundred lives could have been

stopped earlier and the tragedy managed if only there was a well-trained, equipped and quick

disaster response team in the country. Despite Kenya Pipeline Company claiming to have

sophisticated technology to monitor and respond to an event at any point of its infrastructure, the

spillage that Sinai residents claimed is common was not contained causing one of the worst fire

tragedies in Nairobi. However, the Sinai fire tragedy is among many tragedies that have claimed

many lives in the country as a result of the policy gap that has seen most disaster response

initiatives become ad-hoc and short term. The Nakumatt Down town inferno in 2008 is also a

clear pointer of this in that despite the supermarket being a walking distance to the National fire

station, fire trucks with no water reached the venue too late.

The Kenya for Kenyans campaign that raised funds in aid of hunger struck Kenyans in

Turkana during the drought of 2010 showed how Kenya’s Government had hit a new low in

terms of disaster relief. It took the intervention of patriotic citizens of the country to save the

situation that seemed to have gotten out of hand in terms of providing relief food and Medicare

to the victims of the drought

In conclusion, disaster management efforts require a holistic, multidisciplinary and inter-

sectoral approach, environmental awareness of the dangers of resource depletion, a coherent and

comprehensive policy to guide the process, and institutional framework for effective Programme

implementation. The pursuit of economic prosperity and social equity should go hand in hand

with environmental conservation for present and future generations and disaster management to

ensure that these generations’ efforts do not go to waste.

REFERENCES

1. ISDR (2002), Living with Risk, A Global Review of Disaster Reduction Initiatives,

United Nations. Geneva, Switzerland.

2. Laurie Pearce (March 2003); Disaster Management and Community Planning, and Public

Participation: How to achieve Sustainable Hazard Mitigation, Volume 28, Issue 2-3, pp

211-228

3. Republic of Kenya (2004), National Policy on Disaster Management (Revised Draft) p4,

Nairobi, Kenya.

4. Republic of Kenya (March 2004); National Policy for the sustainable Development of the

Arid and Semi-Arid Lands of Kenya, p 8-11. Nairobi, Kenya.

5. UNDP, WMO, GOK, IGAD, and DMCN, (May 2002), Factoring Weather and Climate

Information and Products into Disaster Management Policy, A Contribution to Strategies

for Disaster reduction in Kenya. Nairobi Kenya.

6. UNDP (2007); Kenya Disaster Profile Report 2007, Nairobi, Kenya.

7. http://www.unep.org/IK/Pages2.asp?id=Natural%20Disaster

%20Management&content=Kenya [Accessed 12th March 2014]