CHAPTER 242
DISASTER RELIEF CO-ORDINATION ACT

[SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION]

INDEX TO SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION

    REGULATIONS

        The Disaster Relief Co-ordination Regulations

REGULATIONS

THE DISASTER RELIEF CO-ORDINATION REGULATIONS

ARRANGEMENT OF REGULATIONS

    Regulation

Title

    1.    Citation.

    2.    Interpretation.

    3.    Co-ordination of emergency activities.

    4.    Emergency Operation Centre.

    5.    Establishment of DOPC.

    6.    Composition of DOPC's Committee.

    7.    Functions of the Committees.

    8.    Emergency meeting.

    9.    Survey team to disaster area.

    10.    Centres of operations.

    11.    Phases of emergency.

    12.    Disaster reporting.

    13.    Resources within Ministries.

    14.    Establishment of DDPC.

    15.    Establishment of DDOPC.

    16.    Guidelines for prevention measures.

SCHEDULES

THE DISASTER RELIEF CO-ORDINATION REGULATIONS

(Section 16)

G.N. No. 33 of 1991

1.    Citation

    These Regulations may be cited as the Disaster Relief Co-ordination Regulations.

2.    Interpretation

    In these Regulations unless the context requires otherwise–

    "the Act" means the Disaster Relief Co-ordination Act *;

    "DOPC" means the Disaster Operations and Preparedness Committee.

3.    Co-ordination of emergency activities

    The Minister shall direct all emergency operations through the Director who shall co-ordinate activities of the Disaster Operations and Preparedness Committee, in these Regulations referred to as "DOPC".

4.    Emergency Operations Centre

    There shall be established by TANDREC an emergency operations centre within the Prime Minister's Office.

5.    Establishment of DOPC

    There is hereby established a Disaster Operations and Preparedness Agency under TANDREC, which shall be known as the Disaster Operations and Preparedness Committee, or, by the acronym "DOPC".

6.    Composition of DOPC's Committee

    (1) The Committee shall be composed of–

    (a)    the Permanent Secretary in the Prime DOPC's Minister's Office who shall be the Chairman;

    (b)    member from the Ministry responsible for defence and national service;

    (c)    member from the Ministry responsible for transport and communications;

    (d)    member from the Ministry responsible for home affairs;

    (e)    member from the Ministry responsible for education;

    (f)    member from the Ministry responsible for foreign affairs and international co-operation;

    (g)    member from the Ministry responsible for water and energy;

    (h)    member from the Ministry responsible for finance;

    (i)    the Director who shall be the Secretary of the Committee.

7.    Functions of the Committee

    The Committee shall–

    (a)    prior to a disaster–

         (i)    develop a clear-cut chain of command and alert system;

        (ii)    establish operational plans for various types of disasters;

        (iii)    establish and update each member's own disaster operation and preparedness plans;

        (iv)    collect and maintain current data on the various resources available for use in disasters;

        (v)    promote a widespread understanding of the national disaster relief plan;

        (vi)    ensure that regular tests and training exercises are conducted;

        (vii)    ensure that all organisations to which specific responsibilities have been delegated are fully prepared to carry out these responsibilities;

        (viii)    establish a method of screening the eligibility of victims for different types of assistance programmes;

        (ix)    analyse records of past disasters;

        (x)    review regularly different disaster preparedness and relief measures and co-ordinate them; and

        (xi)    review regularly the national disaster operation and preparedness plan and take corrective action as needed;

    (b)    during a disaster–

        (i)    operate a disaster relief control centre or headquarters;

        (ii)    activate operational plans;

        (iii)    co-ordinate the relief aid of all governmental and private organisations, both national and international, and establish liaison with concerned United Nations agencies;

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        (iv)    control and co-ordinate the use of transport and communications facilities;

        (v)    co-ordinate information relative to the disaster;

    (c)    after a disaster–

        (i)    put into effect rehabilitation programmes such as road construction and re-establishing health facilities;

        (ii)    evaluate the effectiveness of the relief operation; and

        (iii)    maintain documentation on all activities throughout the disaster period.

8.    Emergency meeting

    Where a declaration of a disaster has been issued pursuant to the Act, the Director shall forthwith call an emergency meeting of those members of DOPC who are needed to deal with the emergency.

9.    Survey team to disaster area

    (1) Where an emergency meeting has been held, the Director shall immediately dispatch a survey team to the disaster area and if necessary assign to one of his officers the task of co-ordinating the field operations.

    (2) Any officer assigned to the task of co-ordinating field operations shall, through TANDREC, make requests for such assistance as he may need from the DOPC.

10.    Centres of operations

    (1) There shall be five centres of TANDREC's operations which shall include the command centre, communication centre, support centre and the briefing centre.

    (2) The Command Centre shall be under the Minister or any other person appointed by the Minister on his behalf, and who shall be assisted by other members who shall be drawn from the DOPC.

    (3) At each operation room of the Command Centre there shall be such basic equipment as shall be required, including–

    (a)    maps on which the disaster area can be shown in detail including topography, roads, and railroads clearly marked;

    (b)    weather forecasts;

    (c)    situation board on which the disaster statistics are shown.

    (4) The Communication Centre shall be allocated within walking distance of the operations centre and shall be headed by the Director of the Tanzania Posts and Telecommunications Company or any other person appointed by him on that behalf.

    (5) At each Communication Centre, representatives of the police, military, health, fire department and Radio Tanzania shall be present.

    (6) The Support Centre shall have such facilities including–

    (a)    secretaries for typing;

    (b)    drivers for personnel transport;

    (c)    couriers for dispatches;

    (d)    cooking and dining area; and

    (e)    sleeping quarters with showers and toilet facilities.

    (7) The Briefing Centre shall be a place where the Minister or the Director–

    (a)    briefs the local, national and international news media reporters on the disaster operations; and

    (b)    issues the news bulletins.

11.    Phases of emergency

    (1) When notification of an emergency of a disaster has been received and verified–

    (a)    the Director shall, immediately during duty hours, summon the appropriate members to the operations centre;

    (b)    the Minister or duty officer shall, on non-duty hours receive the call and relay all information to the Chairman or the Director or one of their officers who shall then activate a call-up procedure;

    (c)    the DOPC shall, when a twenty-four hour operation is necessary, divide itself into two shifts–

        (i)    from 7.30 a.m. to 7.30 p.m. which shall be headed by the Director; and

        (ii)    from 7.30 p.m. to 7.30 a.m. which shall be headed by officers working under the Director.

    (2) The Minister shall–

    (a)    whenever there is an emergency of a disaster instruct the Chairman and the Director–

        (i)    to ensure that the threatened people have been properly informed so as to avoid or lessen the effect of the emergency;

        (ii)    to review with the Regional Commissioner, District Commissioner and the village leader of that particular area the plan of emergency action to be taken;

        (iii)    to make sure that the staff of TANDREC are properly briefed on action to be taken and that their positions are covered;

        (iv)    to alert the Director-General of Tanzania Posts and Telecommunications Corporation for call-up procedures of members of DOPC;

        (v)    to ensure that needed members of DOPC are put on alert status and review their plan of action;

        (vi)    to ensure that the key operational partners like the military, the police, the Red Cross and the Fire Department are ready to move and that the radio communications facilities are available;

        (vii)    to review the operational status in the disaster area for communication links, availability of manpower, transport vehicles, public utilities and possible evacuation sites such as schools, churches, missions, hospitals, government buildings, etc.;

    (b)    after an executive declaration of a disaster area, instruct or direct the Director–

        (i)    to review with him policies, and guidelines for the relief operation;

        (ii)    to ensure that DOPC receives all relevant information from the disaster area and that the updated information is recorded on map and action board and in the report;

        (iii)    to continually keep abreast of actions taken up by the various Ministries, voluntary agencies and private groups;

        (iv)    to assign foreign personnel requested to the appropriate Ministries for co-ordination, control and support;

        (v)    to make sure that proper reporting is received and maintained from the disaster area;

        (vi)    to keep records of needs and compares them with donations received, so as to ensure that the proper relief goods are supplied in sufficient quantities;

    (c)    on the recovery phase, instruct or direct the Director–

        (i)    to monitor the re-establishment of the community services and public utilities as they existed prior to the disaster;

        (ii)    to determine if the location of victims is necessary and when they can safely return to their homes;

        (iii)    to monitor the distribution of disaster relief assistance and ensure that it is properly used and recorded;

        (iv)    to ensure proper reporting by the DOPC members to their appropriate authorities and that copies are filed with TANDREC.

12.    Disaster reporting

    (1) The Director shall, as soon as possible after the beginning of an emergency and after reporting such emergency as required under the Act and these Regulations, submit to the Minister an initial report with information as prescribed in the First Schedule to these Regulations.

    (2) Subject to subregulation (1), the Director shall send a report at regular intervals or as added information is available after more complete surveys have been made or conducted.

    (3) The intermediate reports referred to in subregulation (2) shall include such information as prescribed in the Second Schedule to these Regulations.

13.    Resources within Ministries

    (1) The Director shall liaise with different Ministries of the Government so as to provide different services required before, during and after the occurrence of a disaster.

    (2) Subject to subregulation (1), the Director shall prepare a list of information on every kind of service to be provided by each Ministry.

14.    Establishment of DDPC

    (1) There is hereby established a District Disaster Prevention Committee which shall be known by the acronym "DDPC".

    (2) The Committee shall be composed of–

    (a)    the District Commissioner who shall be the Chairman;

    (b)    member from the Ministry responsible for health;

    (c)    member from the Red Cross;

    (d)    member from the Ministry responsible for education;

    (e)    member from the Ministry responsible for shelter and land development;

    (f)    member from the Ministry responsible for animal husbandry;

    (g)    member from the Ministry responsible for communications and transport;

    (h)    member from the Ministry responsible for wildlife control; and

    (i)    any other person appointed by the Minister.

15.    Establishment DDOPC

    There is established at every of district level a District Disaster Operations and Preparedness Committee or, by the acronym "DDOPC" to be established under the "DDPC" which shall be charged with the same functions as those of the National Disaster Operations and Preparedness Committee.

16.    Guidelines for prevention measures

    Whenever a disaster occurs in a district the guidelines for prevention measures shall be established by the National Disaster Operations and Preparedness Committee in co-ordination with the District Government.

FIRST SCHEDULE

(Regulation 12(1))

SECOND SCHEDULE

(Regulation 12(3))

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