Mohale’s Hoek, October 02 — The District Disaster Management Team (DDMT) is expected to commence with the Early Warning Messages exercise starting from Tuesday at villages identified as drought hot sports.
This transpired in a meeting held with the purpose of capacitating the team in appropriate ways of disseminating information on disaster preparedness and to analyze some activities which have been selected as major points to be addressed before the anticipated drought.
The District Disaster Manager from Disaster Management Authority, Mr. Lebohang Moletsane highlighted that the team will have to warn communities about the normal to abnormal rainfalls anticipated from December to January, which might lead to severe drought.
He noted that activities which have been selected as core issues to be addressed before drought are availability of safe water for public consumption, however stated that the drilling of boreholes would not be possible considering long processes which need to be followed when engaging Contractors, as there is little time left.
Mr. Moletsane further indicated that plastic water tanks should be procured and located at hot sports, as as well as water tankering in the Southern Lowlands and the Senqu valley areas.
In addition, Mr. Moletsane concluded by noting that in agricultural inputs, farmers should be encouraged to built their own dams to secure water for animals, stick to drip irrigation as it safes water, use drought tolerant and early maturing seeds, and practice double and key hole farming as these methods successfully lock moisture within crops.
