KAMPALA — When the ground moves, the first instinct is survival. Buildings are evacuated, emergency teams mobilise and families search for one another. But once the immediate danger begins to recede, a more enduring question emerges: how prepared was society before the earthquake struck? Beyond the immediate emergency, the 7.4-magnitude earthquake raises questions about resilience, urban planning and the cost of preparedness
The powerful earthquake that shook Colombia on August 10, sending tremors across several cities and prompting evacuations, has once again demonstrated how quickly a natural hazard can become a governance challenge. For Colombia, the immediate priority is assessing damage, assisting affected communities and monitoring for further seismic activity. For countries elsewhere, including those in Africa, the event offers a wider lesson: disaster preparedness cannot begin when disaster arrives. It has to be built into development planning long before the emergency.
Earthquakes are natural phenomena. The scale of their human consequences, however, is often influenced by decisions made years earlier. Where people live, how buildings are constructed, whether emergency services can reach affected communities, how quickly warnings are communicated and whether citizens know what to do can all influence the outcome.
This is particularly relevant to rapidly urbanising African countries, across the continent, cities are expanding at remarkable speed. New housing, commercial buildings, roads and public infrastructure are emerging alongside informal settlements and densely populated neighbourhoods. Urban growth brings opportunity. But when expansion occurs faster than planning and enforcement, vulnerability can accumulate quietly. The lesson from seismic disasters is therefore broader than earthquakes themselves.
African governments are increasingly confronting a range of hazards, from floods and landslides to droughts, storms, fires and disease outbreaks. While seismic risk varies considerably from one country to another, the underlying principle remains applicable: infrastructure should be designed not merely for ordinary conditions, but for the shocks that communities are most likely to face.
For cities such as Kampala, Nairobi, Addis Ababa, Dar es Salaam, Kigali and Accra, disaster preparedness should increasingly form part of mainstream urban policy rather than remaining the responsibility of emergency agencies alone. Building regulation, drainage systems, transport planning, emergency access, communications infrastructure and public awareness are interconnected components of urban resilience. The question should not simply be whether a city is growing, It should be whether the city is becoming safer as it grows.
The economic consequences of disasters often extend far beyond damaged buildings. Businesses can lose working days. Schools can close. Transport networks can be disrupted. Families can face unexpected costs. Governments may have to redirect already limited resources toward reconstruction and emergency assistance. For developing economies, such disruptions can be particularly severe.
This makes disaster-risk reduction not merely a humanitarian issue, but an economic-development strategy. A resilient building protects lives. A resilient transport system protects economic activity. Reliable emergency communications protect communities. Effective land-use planning reduces exposure. In each case, prevention can reduce the eventual cost of response.
One of the less visible elements of disaster response is public confidence, during a crisis, citizens need credible information quickly. Conflicting rumours can create confusion, while exaggerated claims can produce unnecessary panic. This places responsibility on governments, emergency agencies and media organisations alike. Authorities must communicate what is known, what is uncertain and what citizens should do.
Media organisations, meanwhile, must resist the temptation to turn uncertainty into certainty simply because audiences want immediate answers. This is particularly important in the digital age, where a dramatic video or unverified claim can reach millions before emergency authorities have completed their first assessment. For journalists, therefore, disaster reporting is not only about speed, it is about accuracy under pressure.
The Colombian earthquake offers several lessons relevant to African policymakers. First, risk assessment should precede infrastructure investment. Governments need to understand the hazards confronting particular locations before approving major developments. Second, building standards matter only when they are enforced. Regulations without inspection and accountability provide limited protection.
Third, local emergency capacity is indispensable. National institutions may coordinate major responses, but the first people reaching affected communities are often local responders. Fourth, public education saves time during emergencies. Citizens who understand evacuation procedures and basic safety measures are better positioned to respond when official instructions arrive. Finally, disaster resilience should be treated as part of economic planning. Protecting infrastructure and communities protects development gains.
The temptation after every major disaster is to focus on the immediate response and then move on once the headlines disappear. That approach carries a cost; the more valuable question is what can be learned before the next emergency. For Africa, that means placing resilience alongside infrastructure, housing, health, climate adaptation and urban development in national planning. The continent does not need to copy another region’s disaster model wholesale. Its risks, institutional capacities and urban realities are different. But the principle is universal: Development that does not account for risk can leave communities vulnerable to losing the very gains development was intended to create.
As Colombia assesses the consequences of the latest earthquake, the wider international community has an opportunity to look beyond the immediate images of evacuated buildings and shaken cities. The deeper story is about preparedness, and for Africa’s rapidly growing cities, preparedness may increasingly become one of the defining measures of responsible governance.
DAILY THINKERS EDITORIAL PERSPECTIVE
Natural disasters test more than infrastructure. They test institutions, communication, leadership and public trust. The most important lesson is therefore not simply how governments respond after the ground moves. It is whether they prepared before it did.
