Africa urged to adopt new poverty model

Lack of disaster preparedness has remained one of Kenya’s enduring development challenges for decades and the Kenyan Government has been criticised especially in view of the recent droughts, floods and landslides, for lack of preparedness and ad hoc response.

Droughts and floods cost Kenya alone US$ 1 billion with adverse effects on water and food security, human and animal lives, and extensive damage to the infrastructure.

In the pursuit of reducing vulnerabilities to risks, the government last year formulated the National Policy on Disaster Management to institutionalise mechanisms for addressing disasters. This puts emphasis on both government and community preparedness to deal with disasters and so far, community radios have been set up in drought and floods-prone areas such as North Eastern and Budalang’i to warn residents in advance of disasters.