Sometimes, desperate times call for innovative ideas, rather than desperate measures.
Sasria has signed an agreement with Santam to join their “Partnership for Risk and Resilience” (P4RR) programme to facilitate increased collaboration between provincial and district disaster management centres, to enhance the capacity of local government with fire and flood risk management.
Sasria, a state-owned entity, provides insurance cover against risks such as civil commotion, public disorder, strikes, riots and terrorism. Starting with the Ehlanzeni district municipality in KwaZulu-Natal they will set out to work in their business’ specific areas of concern; civil and labour unrest, and student protest that in many instances result in fire risk in municipalities.
“Through our involvement we will set out to understand the drivers of potential community unhappiness, and then address it proactively to prevent any unrest or protest action,” says Cedric Masondo, Sasria Managing Director.
“We have greatly improved the provision of disaster management services across several municipalities, and more than five million people in a total of ten district municipalities and 53 local municipalities will benefit from the expanded programme over the next five years,” says John Lomberg, Stakeholder and CSI manager at Santam.
“We place enormous importance on our accountability to fulfil the role of a responsible corporate citizen through forging partnerships, building capacity, and creating sustainable solutions and practices to enhance the resilience of communities to manage and reduce risk. We’re looking forward to more insurers reaching out and joining the project” says John.
Santam’s collaboration with the municipalities via P4RR has resulted in several contributions being made by the insurer in order to help mitigate ‘on the ground’ insurable risks, including the resourcing of local fire stations with equipment such as fire hoses and protective gear, and the enabling of geographical information systems aimed at improving emergency response and disaster management capabilities.
