The Vice-President and Commissioner for Disasters, Wilson Moleni, has revealed that there is a Disaster Bill that will be discussed in the next sitting of Parliament.

When passed, the Bill will see disaster victims being relocated from disaster prone areas. Currently, the department has to warn settlers in such areas to relocate, but the Bill will enforce the relocation to safer grounds. “We do not have the powers by law to remove them, but if passed, the bill will enable us to move them to safe grounds using necessary force” said Moleni.

On the other hand, Disaster-prone districts will have disaster evacuation centres, as the default camps for victims has always been primary schools. The development will therefore relieve pressure of the primary education institutions. The news was confirmed by the Department of Disaster Management Affairs (Dodma) chief mitigation officer Stern Kita.

“We want to ensure there are strong systems within the communities because when disasters occur, people seek shelter in schools, mosques and churches as a result services offered by those places are no longer available”