THE City of Cape Town's Disaster Risk Management Centre is two-and-a-half times over its budget with six months still remaining of the financial year.
Head of Disaster Risk Greg Pillay told the safety and security portfolio committee on Thursday the city's spending of R108-million on victims of last year's xenophobic violence had push-ed the department over budget.
He said the city was trying to recoup some of this money from the provincial and national governments. The national government had allocated R17,2m to the city to cover some of its costs.
The centre's biggest hazard in the last quarter was fires in informal settlements. More than 600 structures and 2,578 people were affected by fires during the three-month period. More than 7,000 blankets were handed out during this time while 668 people were accommodated in emergency shelters.
The city's fire and rescue service responded to 10,767 incidents between October and December, up from 7,298 for the previous quarter.
Fire chief Ian Schnetler said there was an increase in especially vegetation fires, but they were better managed because of improved staffing.
"We will fill the outstanding vacancies by the end of March." He said the service was bolstered by double the number of seasonal firefighters.
Smith noted the increase in medical calls being handled by the fire department, which were up from 1,956 in the previous quarter to 2,298. "We need to speak to the province about the ambulance services if we are picking up their work."
Of the 16 accidents involving fire and rescue vehicles in the last quarter, two involved vehicles that were damaged by stonings.
Schnetler said the stonings took place in Khayelitsha when residents stoned the vehicles when the service responded to an alleged assault complaint.
The city's traffic services dealt with 43,685 traffic offences between October and December, up 1 000 from the previous quarter. There were 2,868 bus-lane offences and 26,311 parking offences.
The department attributed the increases to its high visibility deployment strategy during the festive season. Driving tests remain a concern, with only 38 percent of the 13,882 drivers' tests conducted being passed.
The Metro Police reported a drop in the number of reported incidents on beaches for the last quarter of 2008. As part of the clampdown on drug dens, the Metro Police confiscated 4,000 units of drugs which included heroin, tik and cocaine.
- Cape Times
Head of Disaster Risk Greg Pillay told the safety and security portfolio committee on Thursday the city's spending of R108-million on victims of last year's xenophobic violence had push-ed the department over budget.
He said the city was trying to recoup some of this money from the provincial and national governments. The national government had allocated R17,2m to the city to cover some of its costs.
The centre's biggest hazard in the last quarter was fires in informal settlements. More than 600 structures and 2,578 people were affected by fires during the three-month period. More than 7,000 blankets were handed out during this time while 668 people were accommodated in emergency shelters.
The city's fire and rescue service responded to 10,767 incidents between October and December, up from 7,298 for the previous quarter.
Fire chief Ian Schnetler said there was an increase in especially vegetation fires, but they were better managed because of improved staffing.
"We will fill the outstanding vacancies by the end of March." He said the service was bolstered by double the number of seasonal firefighters.
Smith noted the increase in medical calls being handled by the fire department, which were up from 1,956 in the previous quarter to 2,298. "We need to speak to the province about the ambulance services if we are picking up their work."
Of the 16 accidents involving fire and rescue vehicles in the last quarter, two involved vehicles that were damaged by stonings.
Schnetler said the stonings took place in Khayelitsha when residents stoned the vehicles when the service responded to an alleged assault complaint.
The city's traffic services dealt with 43,685 traffic offences between October and December, up 1 000 from the previous quarter. There were 2,868 bus-lane offences and 26,311 parking offences.
The department attributed the increases to its high visibility deployment strategy during the festive season. Driving tests remain a concern, with only 38 percent of the 13,882 drivers' tests conducted being passed.
The Metro Police reported a drop in the number of reported incidents on beaches for the last quarter of 2008. As part of the clampdown on drug dens, the Metro Police confiscated 4,000 units of drugs which included heroin, tik and cocaine.
- Cape Times
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