Imtiaz Sooliman – Gift of the Givers step in to assist Eastern Cape residents affected the storm
AI: Summary ©
A representative from a disaster management organization called on residents of the Eastern Cape to express their frustration with the devastation caused by a storm on the Eastern Cape. The representative also discussed the possibility of providing aid to people affected by the storm and the need for help with housing and medical equipment. The representative also mentioned the importance of social media for finding support and information.
AI: Summary ©
Residents in certain areas of the Eastern Cape are picking up on the
pieces after a massive storm left a trail of destruction of a large
area at the mostly rural amatole District felt the brunt of the
storm. Mopping up operations have started while the authorities are
assessing the damage. The gift of the givers have stepped in to
assist residents affected by the storm. We speak to the founder now
the of the of the organization, Doctor India siloman, a very good
morning to you. Doctor silaman, and thank you so much for talking
to us this morning.
Good morning. Desiree, thank you. What did you find when you hit the
ground?
It was, it was a massive destruction. But our teams got
there yesterday morning. I mean, they've seen the areas a lot. The
amount of houses is damaged, are totally destroyed, more than 1000
the anxiety among the people, the children, the elderly, extremely
worried. It's Christmas and it's it's a bad time again. Last year,
they couldn't see family members coming from other parts of the
country because of covid 19, and this year, they wanted that the
family members will not come back because there's nothing to come
to. Many of the homes are destroyed partially or totally.
The foods. Food is gone. You know, clothing is messed up, furniture
is messed up. They're not sure what to do, and they were very
anxious that afternoon, when the storm hit around four o'clock,
they said the children were terrified with the wind and the
sound and the noise, but when they saw trucks in the morning, 12
o'clock the next day, no at the municipality itself. There was a
huge sigh of relief from the social development people, from
disaster management, from the mayor, from the municipality.
There was instant assistance from the people itself. Food was
provided in terms of hot meals, and people were very, very happy,
you know. And food parcels, blankets and mattresses were given
yesterday, to the credit of the municipality. They brought the
people from the different areas to make it easier, and they brought
them to the Alice Paul to do the distribution. There, that's the
one sign where the homes, the residents have been affected. At
the same time, we got a call from the district health director. And
she said, day in serious travel, 14 clinics have been badly damaged
in terms of roofs, windows, medical equipment, medicines and
patient files. And in addition, three hospitals, the Victoria
Hospital, Fort Beaufort and the winter bacteria hospital, have
also been damaged, and we're waiting for the feedback on that
assessment. So and even, of course, businesses in town have
been affected, especially in Fort mofon, it's a very wide area that
has been affected by this brother's tornado. This is massive
destruction. 14 clinics affected. Um, government,
yeah. Government has got an infrastructure project that's
ongoing, and things like that would fall within that Ambit. How
are you working with government? Doctor Sullivan,
I
was just wanting to find out what interactions you're having with
government in terms of how to go about you spoke about the initial
help that you provided, but of course, there also being long term
needs. So how you what sort of conversations are you having with
government about what to do going forward?
Well, right now, the first, the instant help was, you know,
require request was from the district directors for from the
municipality and Sasa to bring additional assistance, which we
did, which we brought, but the extent of the housing damage,
that's going to require the intervention of human settlements.
And apparently there's a similar destruction in a path that
happened a few days ago for which assistance hasn't been provided.
So our human settlements will have to get involved, because it's
quite a big destruction, and I don't expect people in that area
to able to be able to afford to fix the homes themselves, in terms
of the hospital itself also, you know, it's a public
works department to sort it out, but we've asked them to give us
feedback as to what's required if the damage is getting the swab.
You know, we don't mind sending in our own building teams. It was
something not too major, and our building teams out stand by. They
said they don't mind working during the holidays to sort it
out. Those you cannot have clinics that have no roof. Where do the
patients go? We already got such a massive backlog in health because
of covid 19, we can't go further back and wait till next year to
fix things up. So if the roof is not difficult, the windows are not
difficult, the medical equipment will have to look at the
medicines. We can ask corporate companies to sponsor, but it's a
very bad time of the year when most people are closing right now,
but we'll see what's available and what's possible. And we're just
waiting for that feedback, the assessment from the house people
to send us that, that whole report, the analysis, and as I
said, our building teams on standby. If the costs are visible,
we can send in a team in the next 40 hours to go fix on it. Those
things are you're talking about help coming from corporates and
coming from government. But it's the holiday season, which is
usually a giving season. How can we call upon South African
citizens to come through and help as well.
Well, cash contributions will be the best. But I want to put it
into perspective. We need to understand that these are very
poor people from rural, the rural part of the Eastern Cape. They've
had a hard time, you know? They haven't seen family members from
early last year, and with all the.
Lockdowns. Last year, the family members haven't come home, so
there's a huge gap. You know, there's been, they haven't seen
the members. It's very painful for them. And now, in a time where
things are much better, there's only level one lockdown, they're
enthusiastically waiting for the family members to come home. This
happens to them. It's going to be a very bleak Christmas for them.
You know, we can help them with food parcels and other support,
but if you can give them some funding towards fixing the houses
themselves. Look, many of these people not build houses
themselves. If you can get that rapid rapidly to them, there will
be the best festive intervention we can do during the time of
giving the best way to get hold of us is on our social media. Gift of
give us the all or our toll free life all 807
86911, 86911,
in December. Thank you so much for talking to us this morning.
It's a pleasure. Thank you.