Climate change is not new: temperatures have been rising for decades as a result of global warming. In South Africa’s city of Pietermaritzburg, four low-income urban communities have experienced drought, heatwaves, severe hailstorms, devastating flooding events that killed hundreds of people and displaced thousands, and wildfires as a result of climate change. Environmental scientist Sithabile Hlahla interviewed people in 378 homes there and found that they were not coping well with climate disasters.
How has extreme weather affected life in these communities?
We spoke to people in the France, Swapo and Willowfontein communities near the Pietermaritzburg central business district, and in Mpophomeni, a peri-urban area on the boundary of the city. The households had an average of five people and some had up to 15 people.
