Alexandra townships south africa9/15/2023 With rapid urbanisation and growing pressure on land, more immigrants and rural South Africans have come to settle on the unsolidified landfill on the banks of the river. The risk of the Jukskei River’s flooding, especially around the Setswetla informal settlement, is well known. It suffers from chronic violence, poor infrastructure and a range of environmental hazards. It remains one of South Africa’s poorest and underserviced settlements. Today it has an intimate mix of formal and informal dwellings. A relic of the country’s apartheid regime, the settlement saw rapid growth during the 1990s. It is close to the affluent business district of Sandton and along the Jukskei River. Textbook models don’t account for this.Īlexandra is one of the oldest black urban settlements in South Africa, going back to the early 20th century. This response pointed to the fact that relief actors in situations such as those in Alexandra have to engage with underlying vulnerabilities and divisions in the communities they serve. But they also planned for an oversupply of material – all in an effort to prevent tensions from escalating. Urban policy makers and humanitarian actors did indeed provide aid to those who lost their houses. In this case, however, things worked a little differently. A textbook response would have involved steps like assessing damage, providing first aid and shelter, and developing a strategy to prevent a future, similar disaster. Local government and civil society first responders were on the scene quickly to assess the damage and affirm their support to the residents. The floods destroyed several dozen houses and a child was killed. Following heavy rains in November 2016, flash floods washed through the Setswetla informal settlement adjacent to Alexandra in Johannesburg.
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