Flooding: NEMA activates nationwide offices

The National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, has activated its operational offices in various parts of the country to respond to the recent flood incidents which have affected several states.

This was disclosed in a statement by the agency’s Director General, Zubaida Umar, on Monday.

According to Umar, the agency has deployed search and rescue teams to support the State Emergency Management Agencies, SEMAs, in affected areas.

The statement reads: “In furtherance of its proactive flood risk management, the Director General National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mrs Zubaida Umar has activated all Zonal, Territorial and Operation offices of the Agency nationwide to work with the States Emergency Management Agencies (SEMAs) within their area of responsibilities to carry out rescue operations and conduct assessment of the situation.

“The NEMA Zonal, Territorial and Operation offices are located in Lagos, Ibadan, Ekiti, Abuja, Minna, Jos, Enugu, Owerri, Port Harcourt, Edo, Uyo, Kano, Sokoto, Kaduna, Maiduguri, Yola and Gombe.

“Consequently, NEMA Search and Rescue officers have been deployed across the states and providing the much-desired support in the coordination of rescue operations with SEMAs and other stakeholders in recently flooded areas and communities.

“The Agency is also conducting a rapid assessment to determine any further assistance that may be required in the impacted communities. “The rescue efforts by NEMA are in addition to the ongoing sensitization and awareness activities being carried out to alert the public of the predicted flood for necessary actions to be taken to avert negative impacts.”

The statement further explained that the agency had written to all State Governments with the list of Local Governments that are at risk of getting flooded and outlined actions required to prevent the disaster.

“A number of states that heeded the advisory from NEMA have acknowledged their early actions matched with the warnings and NEMA responses that have made lots of differences,” the statement added.