Flooding: Enugu SEMA stockpiles relief, shelter materials ahead of imminent flooding

Facebooktwittermail

The Enugu State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) says it has stockpiled relief and shelter materials ahead of an imminent flooding in some parts of the state.

The Head of SEMA in the state, Mrs Chinasa Mbah, disclosed this at a news briefing in Enugu on Friday.

Mbah said that the state had stocked food, non food materials, daily consumables and shelter materials such as foams and blankets, among others.

Mbah said that the State Government had taken all the necessary precautionary measures to ensure that flooding and the attendant losses did not occur in the state.

She said that on receipt of the predictions from both the Nigeria Meteorological Agency and Nigerian Hydrological Service Agency, SEMA first declared “Operations Desilt all Drainages” in all the Local Government Areas.

According to her, the operation was totally successful as we got the buy-in of the council chairmen and traditional rulers of communities in the state for the campaign.

“We also embarked on flood mitigation sensitisation among the communities in the council areas already identified as susceptible to flood.

“We currently run radio jingles in different radio stations in native language for expansion of the dissemination of early warning information and precautionary mechanisms.

“We are equally re-inaugurating Local Emergency Management Committee (LEMC) in each community in each council area.

“SEMA has trained the LEMC officials to enhance their efficiency and prompt response in case of any flooding and other emergencies in various communities.”

Mbah said that SEMA had been working in partnership with the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in interacting with other critical stakeholders on flooding preparedness programmes.

“SEMA staff, every last Monday of the month, undergo in-house training to enhance their operational capacity towards achieving disaster risk reduction both on flooding and any other emergencies in the state,” she said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Enugu State has yet to record any flooding this year.

By Stanley Nwanosike

 

Facebooktwitterrss

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *