Disaster Management Act, 2002 (Act No. 57 of 2002)Chapter 3 : National Disaster ManagementPart 1 : National Disaster Management CentrePowers and duties of National Centre20. Prevention and mitigation |
| (1) | The National Centre, to the extent that it has the capacity, must give guidance to organs of state, the private sector, non-governmental organisations, communities and individuals to assess and prevent or reduce the risk of disasters, including— |
| (a) | ways and means of— |
| (i) | determining of risk; |
| (ii) | assessing the vulnerability of communities and households to disasters that may occur; |
| (iii) | increasing the capacity of communities and households to minimise the risk and impact of disasters that may occur; and |
| (iv) | monitoring the likelihood of, and the state of alertness to, disasters that may occur; |
| (b) | the development and implementation of appropriate prevention and mitigation methodologies; |
| (c) | the integration of prevention and mitigation methodologies with development plans, programmes and initiatives; and |
| (d) | the management of high-risk developments. |
| (2) | The National Centre must promote formal and informal initiatives that encourage risk-avoidance behaviour by organs of state, the private sector, non-governmental organisations, communities and individuals. |