Following the 2024 flood prediction by NIHSA, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) downscales flood early warning strategies to the grassroots in Rivers State.
The exercise which was held at Presidential Hotel, Port Harcourt, was attended by some Local Government Chairmen, Mayor of Port Harcourt. Others included Permanent Secretaries, Head of Federal institutions in the state (Commissioner of Police, Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Commission, NSCDC amongst others.
The DG NEMA, Mrs Zubaida Umar in her address stressed that disaster risk management in contemporary times hinges on community wide participation in tandem with UNDRR philosophy of leaving no one behind as disaster risk management is everyone’s business. Consequently, she called on all levels of government to work in synergy with NEMA for managing disaster risks to serve means of livelihood and protect infrastructure and investments from being destroyed or damaged by floods. The DG NEMA was represented by Daniel Obot Director Disaster Risk Reduction.
The Permanent Secretary Special Duties, Dr Agiriye Harry who presided over the event commended NEMA for selecting Rivers State for the exercise explaining that the State has never been spared from flooding hoping that the downscaling would provide an opportunity for the Rivers people to acquire more knowledge in managing disasters.
The disaster risk reduction strategies for 2024 flooding were highlighted in NEMA’s presentation by Godwin Tepikor Deputy Director DRR . He listed the local government areas in the State predicted by NIHSA to be within high and moderate flood risk areas.
There was also an interactive session with some participants making contributions for successful management of the annually recurring flood in the state.
