Anambra Spends N55m On Disaster Management

Anambra State government has spent N55million on disaster management and awareness in its communities in 2011.

Executive Secretary of Anambra State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA),  Dr. Justin Nwabufo, disclosed this to newsmen.

Nwabufo was speaking while leading a disaster response team to the celebration of octogenarians in Obosi community in the state.

The executive secretary said that the money was spent on relief materials, evacuation, awareness as well as sensitisation and communication.

He said that the agency had liaison officers in the three senatorial districts of the state as well as in local council outposts, adding that all the outreaches were geared to receive information on disaster and deal with them with dispatch.

He said: “we do surveillance and monitoring on impact of projects such as drainage and the effect of storm water on terminal communities.

“And we are also advocating that people should build catchment pits for their roofs to effectively control erosion and landslides.

“People should switch off their lights or the entire meter when they are going out or at the end of working hours in order to check fire outbreaks.

“Fuel should be kept in safe places and out of reach of children in order to control fire incidents.

“All these are preventive approaches we are advocating our people to imbibe to reduce disasters in the state.’’

On the celebration, Nwabufo said that his team was around to respond to any emergency arising from the festival.

“We have our ambulances and stretchers as well as drugs and others to respond to the eventual collapse of any octogenarian during the festival.’’