Re: North’s August food of disasters

Penultimate Saturday (5th September, 2009) the Weekly Trust published a report on the recent devastating flood that engulfed so many parts of the northern states particularly in the North-West zone, in fact, the report credited to a team of reporters is a masterpiece because it has portrayed the real happenings that transpired and this provided […]

Penultimate Saturday (5th September, 2009) the Weekly Trust published a report on the recent devastating flood that engulfed so many parts of the northern states particularly in the North-West zone, in fact, the report credited to a team of reporters is a masterpiece because it has portrayed the real happenings that transpired and this provided readers with the true picture of all that happened during the flooding.

What was however worrisome was the way some victims of the flood had blown the incident out of proportion by providing wrong information to the Weekly Trust reporters who had gone there for an interview, pointing out the lackadaisical attitude of the stakeholders present at the scene of the flooding.

I will like to point out a statement made by one Mr Chiedu Edukandu, a victim of the flood residing in Kigo Road New Extension, Kaduna. He said, “Even when he [Governor Sambo] came here with NEMA and the Fire Brigade people, including TV cameras, he just made a speech and left. The NEMA and Fire Brigade people followed him and left. Is it the governor who has emergency or us, the masses?”

Be that as it may, NEMA officials were the first to appear at the scene of the flooding as a result of an earlier report to the agency’s North-West Zonal Office, Kaduna. Information reached the office that a commuter bus conveying more than eight passengers crashed into the River Kaduna Bridge. This drew the attention of the North-West Zonal Coordinator, NEMA, Alhaji Mustapha Suleiman, to immediately assembled the agency’s Emergency Response Team (ERT) at his disposal (despite the departure of some Search and Rescue Officers for a training course under the tutelage of Israel professionals) and proceeded to the scene of the incident with the aim of rescuing the trapped victims.

On arrival at the scene, officials of the agency observed that the water had started spreading in an alarming rate to communities especially the flood prone areas.

In order to effectively and efficiently manage the situation, the Zonal Coordinator coherently divided the team into three groups for timely response to the affected areas.

Places most affected by the flooding were Ungwar Rimi, Hayin Dan-Bushiya, Malali, Kigo Road off Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kabala Costain in Kaduna North Local Government Area while areas like Kaje, Bashama, Fulani, Richifa Roads and other parts of Tudun Wada in Kaduna South Local Government Area were also severely affected by the flooding.

In a coordinated manner, team A spearheaded by the Zonal Coordinator proceeded to Kigo Road. Getting there and seeing that the situation in the area was critical, he quickly reached the chairman, Kaduna North Local Government through the GSM. The chairman equally also called the attention of the governor who promptly arrived the scene.

The governor, Zonal Coordinator, officers from reputable stakeholders like SEMA, Fire Service, Red Cross, Police and the Civil Defence Corps embarked on a courtesy visit to express sympathy after which Governor Sambo and his entourage left. Yes, the Zonal Coordinator went to see the governor off, but saying NEMA left is wrong because officials of the agency were around to mobilize other stakeholders to tackle the problems on ground.

Furthermore, NEMA officials went round looking for safer areas for the camping of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP). It was agreed that if need be after studying the whole situation, schools in the affected communities should be used as camps for the victims. Places like Government Day Secondary School (GDSS) Doka along Kigo Road, LGEA Ungwar Rimi GRA were chosen as refugee camps under the eagle-eye of security agents.

At the IDP camp set up by NEMA no single victim turned up (till date) to register even as officials of the agency and other stakeholders waited. But to the Zonal Coordinator’s dismay, people, predominantly women turned up in the pretext of being in the camp. After a series of conversations with NEMA officials, all of them dispersed without their traces.

Officials of the agency routinely gave out emergency numbers to every affected or potential danger areas visited for whatever case that may arise. Presently, nobody has called to lay his or her complaint.

In respect of other affected areas in some states in the North-West zone, NEMA has dispatched teams of its staff to affected areas in Zamfara and Kebbi States for an assessment caused by the recent flood while relief materials have already been sent to victims in Sokoto State.

Another team will soon embark on assessment for the Kaduna flood.

But NEMA being an agency saddled with the responsibility of coordinating disaster management is always alive to its responsibility. Assisting sufferers of crisis is what NEMA does. The assistance usually comes in form of food and shelter to relieve victims who lost their means of survival.

Experience has clearly shown that the communities that experience the least damage and recover fastest from disasters are those that are aware and can rely on mutual support system and on their own resource. That is why the agency always makes a warning alert (through the media) prior to an occurrence of disasters most commonly flooding due to its forecast nature.

Mohammed is a staff of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), North-West Zonal Office, Kaduna