Disaster magt: NEMA enjoins stakeholders on collaboration

Disaster managers have been enjoined to collaborate and cooperate with one another in order to achieve success.
North-central acting Zonal Coordinator of NEMA, Malam Muhammad B. Abdulsalam, made the call yesterday in Jos, the Plateau state capital, at a one-day workshop on disaster management for stakeholders.

He said: “There cannot be any serious delivery of any emergency management service, let alone building a sustainable culture of preparedness, prevention, response and community resilience to disasters without a conscientious mechanism for collaboration and cooperation between and amongst stakeholders.”

The coordinator, who was represented by the zonal principal planning officer, Muhammad Suleiman, said mitigation, preparedness and effective response to multi-hazard emergencies require vigilance, requisite skills and knowledge of the subject matter as well as engagement and re-engagement of relevant stakeholders.

He added: “The menace of flooding will be brought to its barest minimum if States Emergency Management Agencies (SEMAs) and all other federal government agencies, as well as NGOs, community leaders, including affiliated volunteers understand the underlying causes of flood and techniques for prevention, mitigation and preparedness.”
In a paper tagged: “Mainstreaming Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), in Development, planning process,” Leo attributed bad town planning to flooding and other disasters.
She said there should be in place an international collaboration between countries in the areas of policies formulation, as well as disaster management.