Coping with drought in Southern Africa

In 1991/92, countries in Southern Africa faced potential catastrophe from the effects of severe widespread drought which decimated crops , particularly maize and contributed to great losses of cattle due to disease and stress sales. Countries in the region had to import grain to hitherto unprecedent levels to meet the shortfalls for both market demand and relief requirements. Against the background of widspread poverty; high levels of child malnutrition; implementation of stringent structural adjustment programmes and a largely underdeveloped and dilapidated rural infrastructure in the areas where need was greatest; Southern Africa with partners managed to prevent widespread starvation except for relatively small areas within conflict zones of Angola and Mozambique. Infact, in countries that were not at war it would be difficult to attribute any of the deaths during this time to the direct effects of the drought. Most of the region avoided outright free distribution of available relief resources and emerged from the experience with valuable lessons for the way forward in reducing vulnerability and coping with future disasters (AU)

The regulatory approach to ensuring the adequacy of emergency planning for nuclear power stations in South Africa

This first nuclear power station in South Africa became operational in 1984. The paper describes the basis on which emergency planning was required from a regulatory point of view. The exent of planning required and the associated facilities are described, together with the structure of the emergency response organization and associated responsibilities. The provisions in place to ensure ongoing readiness of the emergency response organization are discussed. These include training and retraining of operational staff, equipment and inventory checks and the conducting of an annual full-scale demonstration exercise. (AU)