AS THE province continues to experience extreme weather conditions, the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) together with its international partners launched a £2 million (about R46 million) project to develop an early warning system.
The project titled, “Warning system for Extreme Weather Events, Awareness Technology for Healthcare, Equitable Delivery, and Resilience (WEATHER)”, is a collaboration involving UKZN, the University of the West of Scotland (UWS),the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery and the University of Portsmouth (UoP).
The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) awarded the institutions the grant to develop the system.
Professor Saloshni Naidoo, co-PI of the project and the head of public health medicine at UKZN, who was speaking at a press briefing last week, said the project followed a series of adverse weather events in the province such as the floods in April 2022.
“The project is focused on developing an early warning system for communities and strengthening and building a resilient health system to be able to respond to the adverse weather effects we are experiencing.”
Professor Anil Chuturgoon, acting deputy vice chancellor of research and innovation at UKZN, said the initiative represented a transformative step in safe-guarding lives and strengthening communities against growing threats of climate induced disasters.
“Climate change is not a distant concept, it is an undeniable reality. In South Africa, especially in the KwaZulu-Natal, we have witnessed first-hand the devastating impacts of unpredictable weather conditions and patterns. From destructive floods to the spread of water-borne diseases and disruptions to critical healthcare services, the consequences of extreme weather events ripple across the country and every aspect of people’s lives.
“This grant will enable us to develop a cutting-edge warning tailored for the unique needs of vulnerable communities in eThekwini and the Ugu district. Together, we are transforming innovative ideas into actionable solutions. This initiative is more than a response to climate change, it is a commitment to a safer, healthier and more resilient future. The project is a beacon of hope, a demonstration of how science and technology, when combined with community engagement can mitigate the impacts of our changing climate,” he said.
Professor David Ndzi, the head of school of electrical and mechanical engineering ·at UoP, said the project was focused on predicting rain, flooding and disease symptoms outbreak.
“Climate change is no longer a fiction, as we have seen unprecedented rainfall within a short space of time, and there has been loss of life. The aim of the project is to have a system that tells the population well in advance when it is going to rain, and whether it is going to cause flooding.
“As we said the climate is changing, we are taking a slightly different approach and that is to use artificial intelligence to predict when it is going to rain and how heavy that rain will be. That information will be available to the different communities. It is about providing something that is reliable.
“We are not going to be able to do it on our own. We are going to work with the different communities, municipalities and the South African Weather Services. It is not viable to solve a problem after it has occurred, so the predictive system is to give that advanced warning for people to really take precautionary measures and minimise harm either to property or loss of life,” he said.
In response to a question by the POST in regards to whether the system could predict other extreme weather events such as tornadoes, Ndzi said: “One of the key things within our prediction system is wind and wind speed. We will be able to predict the wind speed and see how that is changing, because that does drive other factors. However, we might not be able to predict a tornado.”
He added that communities would be able to download an app that will allow them to zoom into specific locations to check the weather predictions.
Desmong D’Sa, coordinator of the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (SDCEA), an environmental justice organisation, said: “This is something people, especially those who live alongside flood plains and rivers have been looking forward to for a long time. The 2022 rainbomb that hit Durban is a grim reminder as to why we need such systems to save lives and people's meagre belongings. It is going to be a tremendous tool that local communities can use.”