Veld fires: 12 dead to date
Veld fires: 12 dead to date
19 September 2012
published by www.zbc.co.zw
Zimbabwe –– At least 12 people have lost their lives while 880 000 hectares of land has been destroyed by flames in uncontrolled fires since the beginning of the fire season.
Environmental Management Agency Education and Publicity Manager Steady Kangata says the rate at which veld fires are breaking out this year is alarming and there is an urgent need for communities to change the culture of lighting fires everywhere and understand that the issue of veld fires is serious.
This year the rate at which veld fires are destroying lives and people is alarming. We are doing everything we can to try and respond as well as to educate the communities, but we think there is need for behaviour and culture change, he said.
Hardly two months into the fire season, the number of lives that have been lost as well as the hectarage that has been destroyed is said to be up by 59 percent, compared to the same period last year.
Veld fires are slowly becoming a permanent scourge in Zimbabwe, causing terrible headaches for government authorities and law enforcement agents.
What worries is that no permanent solution has been implemented to put an end to this social cancer which has cost lives and destroyed properties.
