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Tanzania: Act Now to Avert More Deaths in Flood Deaths
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The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)
EDITORIAL
28 March 2008
Posted to the web 28 March 2008
The four deaths reported following Wednesday's downpour, which brought Dar es Salaam to a standstill, are a heavy price to pay for failure by the authorities to deal squarely with what has become a perennial nightmare.
Their families are in mourning, but this loss in human lives has once again exposed the city's woefully inadequate drainage system.
The deaths may have occurred in the poorly planned areas, in fact, slums, which lack proper storm drains, but the city centre was equally swamped, with traffic virtually crawling to a halt.
A mere 45-minute downpour brought the city to a virtual standstill, with the mayhem lasting almost until midnight in some areas.
Of course, one of the worst affected areas is the Central Business District, where many roads were rendered impassable by floodwater, which, in some instances, was waist-deep.
That an area, which is the seat of government and the country's business hub is flooded to the point of its streets resembling canals after rain lasting a few minutes, speaks volumes about the enormity of this infrastructural disaster.
Scenes such as those witnessed on Wednesday are now all too familiar as they are re-enacted every year, but the authorities just appear content to see the rains come and go despite the deaths, suffering and the immense inconvenience city residents are subjected to.
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The issue here is not necessarily lack of funds, as the local municipal councils would have us believe, but rather the will to seriously assess the problem and its impact on economic activities with a view to finding a permanent solution.
A neglected drainage system is just one of several shortcomings, which call into question the commitment and competence of city authorities. It may be too late now for the three municipal councils in Dar es Salaam to repair what remains of the city's dilapidated drainage system.
After all, the rainy season has already set in. However, the councils must move immediately to avert further deaths in low-lying areas, which were savaged by Wednesday's downpour, forcing dozens of families to vacate their flooded homes.
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