This article was published in The Citizen Newspaper, Tanzania on 14th February 2023.
It is a fact that there is no part of the round earth that has been declared free and safe from earthquakes. For the reason that it is not something we can control, we can only do ourselves some good by investing in our safety should the unexpected happen.
This in the pure sense means erecting buildings while aware of possible happenings and the necessity of survival of those who will live or work there. We focus on saving life because we cannot really assure ourselves that we can save structures or any other thing. This cautiousness is not just for possible earthquakes, but it also applies for all other risky eventualities such as fire, tsunamis, excess rainfalls, etc.
We need not embellish facts here; there have been cases of breach of master plans for our towns and cities in the country. This greatly affects emergencies handling in these cities and towns. For instance, spaces set apart as social parks and public open spaces can serve as refuge for people if an earthquake happens.
However, most of these open spaces are no longer there, some have been sold to tycoons who build hotels, hostels, factories, storages, and what not, and some have been assigned other usages. Are we waiting to learn that we need these open spaces as refuge areas when something happens and claims lives? This is a question we can reflect about.
There are also so many residential houses which do not pass the minimum safety requirements for people to live in, and which promise no safety at all if an earthquake of a bigger magnitude strikes. These houses are everywhere, and can be seen even in our big cities.
The fact that we have not experienced these catastrophic situations for years does not guarantee that we will not experience them.
They are realities beyond our control that the human society happens to face from time to time in different places, and we are part of the human society.
It is crucial we talk about these realities because they are capable of claiming thousands of lives in just a few minutes.
Should our national safe housing policy be properly in place, many lives will be saved when such things occur.
We have places in Dar es Salaam and other places, where people are affected by floods every year, and they incur losses due to the same every year. But people are still left to live there. There needs to be directives that people should obey, including vacating these places. But there is also need for the government to organise just, fair, and due compensation or land exchange scheme so that these people can permanently move to safe residential areas.
People in these areas are at the forefront of the risk and they are near to becoming national tragedy anytime. Their houses are weakened every year by flooding, and hence can easily collapse in event of hefty tremors. For the sake of clarity, experts establish that Tanzania lies on an active fault line which stretches from north of the country to the south, and tremors occur often, though major occurrences have occurred a few times. The ripple effect of the earthquakes can directly impact food and economic insecurity as it hampers the smooth flow of productive socioeconomic activities.
It is true that in some parts of the country the government makes follow up about quality of buildings that are erected, but in most parts most people just build whatever they like, in whatever proportion they like so long as it does not fall on their heads.
Furthermore, it is also crucial that we have open spaces, especially in our cities. They can be an assuring and safe refuge in days in to come. Where can people run to if our towns are full of tall buildings, and others permanent structures of all kinds? Besides, we need these spaces even for our social amusement and family outings.
In most of our cities building structures has been a priority that the few empty spaces left are either waiting to be built on, or they are reserved for roads and public facilities, or they are football fields for local primary or secondary schools. We have no designated public parks, something which many world cities have chosen to have as a way of easing the psychological burden of city life which city dwellers may go through. It is good we plan well and make good use of our land for our own wellbeing and benefits.
In addition we need more public awareness on how to be safe in event of disasters like earthquakes. The government should not presume that people know what to do. Sometimes people lose their lives just because they did not know the proper thing to do to be safe.
