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Almost seven months after the devastating KwaZulu-Natal floods, the provincial department announced that there were still 72 missing people.
The announcement was made on Thursday by KwaZulu-Natal Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube while she was giving an update on rebuilding following the deadly floods in April. The floods claimed 445 lives and 386 of those were said to be from eThekwini alone.
Dube-Ncube said DNA services to identify the victims were being rendered with the support of the SA Police Service and recently, eight DNA results came back positive.
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“We are aware that some families are seeking closure, and we are taking into consideration all the sensitivities and emotional issues around this matter,” she said.
She added 82 health facilities were also affected to varying degrees, ranging from limited roof leakages to extensive structural damages, and the cost of repairs was estimated to be about R280 million.
Dube-Ncube said 70 of the hospitals were being renovated by the department of public works and the remaining 12 were renovated by the provincial health department.
The premier added the national department of human settlement granted the province R325 765 million from the provincial emergency housing grant for the provision of emergency housing solutions, which included temporary residential units (TRUs).
She said the construction of TRUs was identified as an immediate emergency to house over 4 000 displaced flood victims.
“Some victims had their houses partially damaged, which necessitated intervention in the form of building material supply vouchers to be provided. Of the identified buildable 1 810 TRUs during the first phase, 1 592 have been completed with 1 511 being occupied. The other 81 completed will be occupied in KwaDukuza Municipality as soon as services are installed. We anticipate that by the end of this week, the services would have been installed resulting in the closing down of four mass care centres of the existing eight in KwaDukuza.”
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She said the remaining four would be shut down by month-end, thus completing the total shutdown of all mass-care centres in KwaDukuza.
In the eThekwini metro, which was the epicentre of the flood disasters, about 50 mass-care centres will remain.
Dube-Ncube said the provincial government working with the City of eThekwini and the human settlement public entity, the housing development agency, have secured eight land parcels, which would be used for permanent housing solutions in the western, northern and southern regions.
