The revelation that three newly installed early flood warning systems in Lautoka and Ba have been allegedly tempered with is cause for concern.
Aside from the fact the installation of the equipment which are supposed to alert residents of impending floods was estimated to have cost a total of $1 million, we live in a country that is prone to flash floods and other natural disasters and we need them.
We have a cyclone season that stretches from November every year through to April. It means we should not be surprised if a cyclone hits us during the year.
Cyclones have not just come out of the woodworks. They have been a part of our lives.
There are years when we are fortunate and go by without a major cyclone, and there are years when we are affected by one or two, and they do inch out floodwaters.
Who can ever forget the massive Severe Tropical Cyclone Winston in 2016 for instance?
It struck with the power of a Cat 5. And when the winds finally died down, 44 people were dead, animals missing or dead, houses flattened and villages destroyed.
Thousands were homeless, and the bill hovered around $2.8 billion.
STC Winston taught us bitter lessons and that mother nature’s fury can wipe out entire families and communities. Now that we have early warning systems in place, there is an expectation that we would be happy and grateful.
At least we have something that warns people about flooding. National Disaster Management Office director Vasiti Soko said a police report had been lodged on the damage to government property.
There is obviously a view leaning towards respect for such equipment. They are designed to protect us after all. Unfortunately she did admit they had foreseen such a thing happening, however, they were surprised by the fact that it “happened within weeks of them being installed”.
“We are pleading to members of the public to not temper with it.
Do not try and break a lock or tamper with the system itself because they are all connected to a remote activation channel that enable us to remotely activate the warnings and sound the siren when the time is right for communities to move.
The siren is connected to the rain gauge as well as well as the water level gauge and if any of these three are tampered with the other two will also be affected.”
The systems were handed over by Minister for National Disaster Management Sakiasi Ditoka late last month and Government received the $1 million funding from the National Disaster Management Research Institute of Korea under the Construction of Forecasting and Warning System for Disaster Risk Reduction in Fiji Project.
We learn that four rainfall stations, seven water level stations and six warning posts were installed in flood prone areas between Lautoka and Ba.
Think about it. The system we are talking about is there to protect people who live in areas that could be considered flood prone.
It serves as a warning system and could save lives. Tampering with them is unnecessary, and selfish.
