Anambra State Emergency Management Agency, SEMA, and the Nigerian Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, have continued their awareness tour to flood-prone local government areas across the state.

 

The program aims to alert communities of an impending natural disaster as projected by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency.

 

The team toured Idemili South, Onitsha North and South Council Areas.

According to the prediction, the flood could be as devastating as that of 2012, with both economic and extreme consequences.

 

The Executive Secretary of SEMA, Mr. Paul Odenigbo, represented by Mr. Chukwudi Onyejekwu, in his address to the people of the council areas said that the purpose of the sensitization was to alert residents on the impending disaster in order to minimize the effects of the deluge.

Mr. Odenigbo, who listed flash and coastal flooding as the two types of flooding, stated that flash flooding is mostly caused by human activities such as indiscriminate disposal of waste and building houses along waterways among others.

 

Contributing, a member of the team, Mr. Emeka Obinwa, who called for the reactivation of the Local Government Emergency Management Committee as the first responder to an emergency, also mentioned the provision of holding centers for those living along the riverine areas .

The group, however, demanded that the message be properly disseminated to residents in order to mitigate the effects of the flooding .

 

Receiving the delegation, the Transition Committee chairman for Onitsha South, Mr. Emeka Orji, and his Onitsha North counterpart, Mr. Charles Ozoma, thanked the group for the initiative and assured that they were ready to support the group to cushion the effects of the disaster.