The leader of the World Bank team, Mr. Raffaelle Cervigni, said the bank would like to contribute to NEMA's disaster management efforts to prevent a reoccurrence of the 2012 flood, which claimed many lives and property.
A statement by NEMA's Press Officer, Manzo Ezekiel, in Abuja on Wednesday stated that the Director-General, Muhammad Sani-Sidi, requested state governments and other stakeholders to match action with their commitment in order to address the challenges of flood, now that some communities were being devastated by the rains.
He said since the release of the 2013 Seasonal Rainfall Predictions by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency, which indicated the likelihood of flooding in some parts of the country, NEMA had undertaken series of activities on awareness and also secured commitment of the stakeholders to build community resilience against the disaster.
"Some of these are early warning alerts, media campaigns, training of community-based organisations and consultative meeting with the stakeholders, mapping of the communities at risk and evacuation plan among others," Sani-sidi said.
The DG explained that a high-powered team had also embarked on advocacy visits to state governors while official camps were already erected in safe grounds in identified flood-prone areas to accommodate individuals that might be displaced by the disaster.
He said the camps were provided with basic facilities such as security, water and sanitation services and food, thus preventing the use of public schools by Internally Displaced Persons.
Source: Punch
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