The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has embarked on grassroots sensitisation in the South East to contain impending flood in some parts of the zone.
The South East Zonal Coordinator of the Agency, Mr Fred Anusim, made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Enugu on Monday, June 3, 2019.
Anusim, who oversees Enugu, Anambra and Ebonyi states, noted that preventing disaster through information dissemination was cheaper and better than solving it.
The coordinator mentioned Anambra, Ebonyi and Enugu as states where flood forecast would affect this year.
Anusim listed some of the council areas prone to flood in Enugu State to include Nkanu East, Enugu North, Enugu South, Oji-River and Uzo-Uwani Local Government Areas.
He said that, in Anambra, Ogbaru, Onitsha South, Ayamelum and Anambra East would be affected while in Ebonyi; Ivo, Ikwo, Abakaliki and some parts of Ishielu would be affected.
He said that NEMA had commenced sensitisation in local government areas in the zone on disaster management especially in flood prone areas, noting that land disputes could cause disaster that led to poverty and lack of food.
“These days, due to development, most of the things we do in the environment contribute to global warming, that is why we are having climate change.
“In Nigeria, we are lucky that the only disaster we always face is flooding, but in most cases, we are the ones that create such problems for ourselves,” the coordinator said.
Anusim appealed to governments of the zone to take disaster management seriously by taking proactive actions in preventing disasters such as flood and communal clashes.
“Disaster management is everybody’s business; we cannot leave it to a particular state or the federal government to handle.
“Disaster management is a global issue; you can see what is happening in the North East where insurgency is ravaging the zone. They thought it was a small thing, but it escalated to other states until it consumed them.
“The states cannot handle some flood situation even the federal government, there are some extent the federal government can handle, and we pray it does not happen to any other zone again.
“NEMA’s mandate is to see how we can reduce the stress of that disaster which is influenced by man.
“We do not want to wait until something happens before we act. We have started to sensitise the local government areas that will be hit by flood again,” he said.
“We need to sensitise people, we need to let people know some of the things they need not do to reduce the impact of disaster,” he said.
By Ifeoma Aka
