Imminent Flood: NEMA Urges Adequate Preparations

The National Emergency
Management Agency (NEMA), South-South zone, has called for adequate preparations and planning against the impending flooding in the Zone.
The zonal coordinator of the Agency, Mr. Emenike Umesi, who said this in an overview of 2012 flood at the solid/liquid waste management seminar in flood prone areas for stakeholders organised by the Rivers State Government in Port Harcourt, also stressed the need for early identification of higher grounds for relocation.
The NEMA coordinator who was represented by Mr. Demion Egwu listed some challenges to evacuation during last year’s flood disaster to include poor attitude to national disaster response, lack of access to the hinterland as well as poor infrastructural facilities.
Earlier in a keynote address, Mr. Umesi stressed the need for the establishment of State Emergency Management Agencies (SEMA) in the zone.
He said that the absence of functional State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) and Local Emergency Management Committee (LEMC) in most states in the zone remains the greatest obstacle to the realisation of government agenda for disaster risk reduction in the zone.
According to him, the programme is the third in the series of programmes aimed at building the Agency’s capacity in disaster management in collaboration with the Rivers State Ministry of Special Duties.
“This third event which focuses on the capacity of stakeholders is coming on the heels of last year’s flood and poor waste management within the camps”, he said.
The State Commissioner for Special Duties, Barrister Umunakwe Dickson said that the government is working hard to ensure that the impending flooding does not wreck havoc in the affected communities.
Barrister Dickson, who was represented by the Director of Administration in the ministry, said that series of seminars have been held in all the flood prone areas across the state.

Harry Ikuroa