Borno NEMA wants residents to participate in rescue activities

At a workshop recently by the group on Extrication Techniques and Mass Casualty Handling on Road Related crashes during the ‘ember months’ and to strengthen partnership on disaster management, stakeholders observed that recent statistics released by the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) on road-related accidents was worrisome.Alhaji Mohammed Kanar, NEMA North East zonal coordinator, said […]

At a workshop recently by the group on Extrication Techniques and Mass Casualty Handling on Road Related crashes during the ‘ember months’ and to strengthen partnership on disaster management, stakeholders observed that recent statistics released by the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) on road-related accidents was worrisome.
Alhaji Mohammed Kanar, NEMA North East zonal coordinator, said recent statistics by the FRSC on road related crashes is worrisome. Therefore, “this workshop is timely in view of the importance attached to the reduction of road fatalities to 50 percent by the year 2020 by the United Nations globally,” he added.
Kanar disclosed that the training was designed to strengthen existing relationship among response agencies to reduce friction at incident scenes, and re-emphasized the lead agency structure in Search and Rescue Evacuation and Epidemics Plan (SAREEP).
He added that increasing traffic congestion on Nigerian roads especially during the ember months owing to high traffic during the Yuletide necessitated such training as part of the mitigating role of NEMA and to avert occurrence of disaster.
During the papers presentation, Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) and Red Cross Society harped on promptness of rescuer or first aider at the accident scenes and examined reasons for road accidents including high speed, violation of traffic rules among others and how people could avert such crashes. NEMA talks on Modern extraction techniques and improvisation various safety tips and how rescuers could improvise available equipment at accident scenes.
Mallam Muhammad Barma, Secretary of Red Cross Society Borno Chapter examined basic first aid procedure during emergencies. He urged volunteers and first aid givers at accident scenes to be good, gentle, sympathetic, thankful and observant in the course of carrying out his or her humanitarian services. “But above all, a rescuer or first aid giver must be concerned about his or her safety too,” he stressed.
FRSC Sector Commander, Abba Adamu Bazza, represented by Ahmed Adamu Abdullahi urged people to avoid excess speed when driving and to use their seatbelt always no matter how short the journey is.
The workshop was attended by FRSC personnel, Red Cross Society, Nation Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), medical personnel, and members of the NYSC emergency management group among others.