The east coast of southern Africa is greatly exposed to tropical cyclones. Somalia, further to the north is another at-risk country, as is Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. Mozambique has a coastline of approximately 2400 km and has in the past experienced severe social dislocation and economic disruption due to cyclone activity e.g. cyclone Eline in 2000. South Africa has also been on the receiving end of killer cyclones: cyclone Domoina hit the SA KwaZulu-Natal coast in early 1984 and lasted for an extraordinary 14 days. The loss in human life in above cases were huge and the infrastructure damage was substantial. These natural weather systems can lead to disasters that can destroy livelihoods on a grand scale: according to current calculations cyclone Idai has resulted in 1000 plus deaths in Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Malawi and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of mostly rural based residents in these countries. Many people are still unaccounted for. In Mozambique the city of Beira could not, with category 1 climate defences, escape the ferocity of the storm. Close to 90% of the city was destroyed. Why preparations were done for category 1 storms in a region known for category 4-5 storms, points to a deliberate ignoring of scientific facts.
The inevitable question many are asking is what the link, if any, is between this extreme weather event and accelerated climate change? A climate science researcher at Wits University in South Africa suggests that the warming of the south-western part of the Indian Ocean is having an influence on the pathways and subsequent areas of impact of tropical cyclones (Jennifer Fitchett: Tropical Cyclone Idai, M&G 14/03/2019). The erratic weather conditions being experienced over large parts of southern Africa can in all probability also be ascribed to these atmospheric changes. World-wide awareness of and growing opposition to the destructive impacts of capitalism on the environment has led to countries like Tunisia, Cuba and Ecuador including climate change in their constitutions.
The affected countries were therefore completely unprepared for cyclone Idai. Decades’ long domestic policies of rural neglect and underdevelopment – within the broader framework of a neo-colonial and neo-liberal political and economic architecture – left the affected areas completely at the mercy of the storm. The humanitarian aid that was and is still forthcoming is an indication of the overall system of dependency and reliance on donor aid and ODA (overseas Donor Assistance) that these extremely poor African countries have to make ends meet with. What worsens the situation is that ruling elites ensure that their nests are feathered first and foremost before doling out crumbs to the countries’ citizens at large. Certain figures suggest how debilitating this aid syndrome has become. December 2017 World Bank figures show that Egypt is top of the list of countries that receive foreign aid in the world (US$ 5 505 650 000). Mozambique is listed 14th, having received US$ 2 314 140 000. The country’s GDP per capita stood at a very low $ 1 215 per annum. The figure for Malawi was $ 1 134 pa. Mozambique’s recovery from the effects of the storm will also be severely impacted by the fact that close to 75% of its labour force is agriculture based.
In contra-distinction to the above, Cuba, a relatively poor country but one built on socialist planning principles, also has to deal with the effects of tropical cyclones. It has over time developed an effective system of managing the effects of tropical cyclones. These efforts are premised on an integration of disaster mitigation programmes with broader socialist planning and organisation. In addition, the Caribbean region has since 2005 adopted the Cuban led Risk Reduction Management Centres (RRMCs), which operate in conjunction with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Cuba has therefore managed to become a leading country in natural disaster management. This it has achieved in the face of a vicious, long term and debilitating US-driven campaign aimed at regime change. Organisations involved in disaster management such as the UNO, the Red Crescent Society and the International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC) and others that deal with the effects of natural disasters, consider Cuba as the world leader in disaster management – for all countries. Ironically a British NGO, Oxfam produced a detailed report on how Cuba deals with natural disasters (Weathering the Storm: Lessons in Risk Reduction from Cuba; 2004). This is an admission that the capitalist ad hoc management of natural disasters is far inferior to what a country like Cuba has achieved in terms of the protection and saving of human lives. Cuba has shown that – notwithstanding the difficulties involved – planning and organising society in the interests of its citizens in ways that does not rely on market forces or a capitalist exploitative system, is possible.