The management of Mediacraft Associates, in collaboration with the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), has urged Nigerians to adequately prepare for disasters and emergencies as a way to reduce their devastating impact in the country.
Mrs. Ajiginni Oluwadamilola, Principal Stock Verification Officer, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) made the call at the Mediacraft Associates’ Knowledge Sharing Session themed: “Disaster and Emergency Management in Nigeria” in Magodo GRA, Lagos.
Mrs. Oluwadamilola pointed out that Nigerians often suffer from man-made disasters or emergencies due to their negligence while citing the 21-Storey Ikoyi building collapse that claimed over 40 lives in Lagos.
In her words; We have a natural disaster and man-made disaster. The man-made disaster is when we are talking about flood because basically what causes flood in Lagos for instance? It is the blockage of the drainages and who is responsible for that? human beings. It is what we by ourselves use our hands to cause. Also, building collapse falls under man-made disasters.
This is because the people in charge fail to use the right quality materials that they are supposed to use for the building, they don’t go through the right specifications that have been given to them and that is responsible for some of the building collapse. However, building collapse can also occur as a natural disaster due to earthquakes, landslides, erosion amongst others.”
According to her, emergency and disaster management can be adequately managed in four major ways such as mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. She noted that mitigation has to do with preventing or reducing the devastating impact of disaster while preparedness is what you put in place before disasters occur.
On response, Mrs. Oluwadamilola advised participants at the occasion as well as Nigerians at large to always have an emergency response plan to enable them to mitigate the adverse effect of any disaster.
Speaking in the same vein, Mr. Wale Adedokun, Search and Rescue Officer, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) lamented that lack of easy access to areas where disasters occur in Lagos State is one of the major challenges the agency was grappling with while carrying out its search and rescue operations.
While expressing his profound gratitude on behalf of the management, Mr. Seun Igbalode, Client Service Director, Mediacraft Associates, noted that the learnings from the event would be used effectively to save lives.
His words: “We are really grateful to you for taking time out to educate us on disaster and emergency management. They say information is golden, information is key, you know data is the new gold. There are some things that we may not know and we may have been neglecting but the knowledge and education that you have shared with us today will put us in the right way. Some of the information that you have shared with us here would actually save lives.”
“We have learned to take emergencies and precautionary measures much more seriously and the little bit of knowledge that we have learned here, we will as much as possible try and pass it along. We thank you for the time, we thank you for the efforts. We also see the good work that you are doing.” Mr. Igbalode affirmed.
He further pledged the unrelenting support of Mediacraft Associates to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) for the purpose of saving lives and for the benefit of all Nigerians.
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