Getting rid of the cancerous asbestos roofing

During the colonial era, asbestos roofing was a fad; they are durable, noiseless under the tap-tap-tap of rain and had some appeal to the eyes.But like colonialism itself proved cancerous, asbestos roofing materials have not been any better. Scientists have proved that asbestos causes several forms of infections after repeated exposure overtime.Yet, more than 60 years later, some schools, as well as religious, government, private institutions are still stuck with the deadly roofing materials.The more weathered the roofs get, the riskier there is of deterioration, which might expose people to harmful fibres that asbestos is made of.With the growing concern over asbestos, people are faced with the dilemma of what to do once their old corrugated roof start to deteriorate.Speaking to The New Times yesterday, Frederic Bizimana, the acting coordinator of asbestos removal project at Rwanda Housing Authority (RHA), said: “We are targeting to have eradicated asbestos by 2016 and are making efforts to achieve this target.”He said a campaign is underway for both public and privately owned structures with asbestos to eliminate it, adding that RHA has already developed a roadmap that will ensure asbestos is replaced from all public buildings.“Each government entity with buildings roofed with asbestos will secure budget to replace them and the budget will be disbursed in accordance with the implementation roadmap,” he said.The removal of asbestos that kicked off in January, 2011, has seen more than 1.5 million square-metres removed and disposed of.ExposureHowever, RHA says 1,019,416 square metres of asbestos remain intact on buildings countrywide.The World Health Organisation says about 125 million people in the world are exposed to asbestos, mainly at workplace and at least 90,000 die each year from asbestos-related diseases due to occupational exposure.For Rwanda, no case has been recorded since there is no appropriate study done linking exposure to asbestos to particular diseases.“We still need cooperation from all Rwandans to commit to eradicating asbestos by 2016. Urgency is required but the disposal should be done in observance of the standard disposal procedures,” Bizimana said.He said, if badly disposed of, asbestos fibre can be emitted in the air “which may pose a more serious danger.”Bizimana called on the general public to respect instructions from RHA as they remove the deadly roofing materials and all inappropriate treatment should be reported to RHA.“Securing funds for asbestos eradication is a challenge, but the public building removal roadmap has been submitted to the Ministry of Finance for budgetary allocation,” said Bizimana.He added that anybody can receive guidance on proper disposal from the RHA asbestos team and a toll free number, 4150, has been set up to assist in the campaign.“We are discussing with relevant authorities how to establish a support system for private individuals who cannot afford to remove the roofing materials due to constraint of funds,” he said.Regional distributionSouthern Province has the most structures with asbestos roofing compared to other regions in the country. However, the governor, Alphonse Munyantwali, said 15 per cent of the affected roofing had been replaced.“We are aware of the deadly roofing materials and that is why we have embarked on an awareness campaign across the whole province sensitising people to be extra careful with such roofings,” he said.“We have replaced asbestos at Kabgayi Catholic Church and other churches in Kamonyi and Kayenzi in the Southern Province,” said Bishop Smaragde Mbonyintege, the spokesperson for the Catholic Church, which has the biggest number of asbestos roofs after the public bodies.Church in driveThe bishop said for the last two years, the campaign has seen five big catholic churches in the country get rid of asbestos, adding that the exercise had spread across the country and that all catholic institutions will be considered in the eradication drive.“We are requesting government to assist us in removing asbestos from our health centres and schools. This activity is quite challenging and needs strong partnership between the church and the government,” said Mbonyintege. “We have discussed that before, but plans are underway to remove asbestos from all catholic structures because we understand that this is a health hazard.”Fidele Ndayisaba, the mayor of the City of Kigali, said the city has embarked on a campaign to ensure buildings roofed with asbestos be renovated or brought down because they were in a dilapidated state.“Most buildings are not in line with the City master plan, for example Kigali University Teaching Hospital, Human Rights Commission Offices among others. Our plan is to transform the city and these old buildings with asbestos roofings will not be spared,” he noted.“Instead of wasting funds changing roofings, we shall demolish structures and put up new ones that are in line with the master plan.”Ndayisaba said Lycee de Kigali is the only institution in the city that will get new roof and the process to remove asbestos from the school was underway.More than one million square metres of asbestos roofing have to be cleared and disposed of. The exercise is expected to cost the government over Rwf10 billion for the next three years.Eradicating the material requires some expertise to ensure that the toxic substance is handled in a way that will not harm human life.

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Getting rid of the cancerous asbestos roofing