The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has again warned communities to heed to its early advice to reduce impacts of flood in Nigeria.
The Director- General of the agency, Zubaida Umar, made the call in Dutse, while handing over 155,020 litres of liquid fertiliser to Jigawa government.
Umar, represented by the Director of Administration and Finance, Sani Ahmed, said the call was imperative in order to reduce the impact of flood on communities and properties.
“The most important thing is for the communities to please take that advice seriously.
“If you’re asked to relocate please do so, it’s for your own safety and your property,” Umar said.
She pointed out that it was the responsibility of communities to first intervene whenever disaster occurs, hence the need to heed early warnings by authorities.
“As we’ve been saying in NEMA, disaster occurs in a community, in a local government and in a state. So, it is the responsibility of that community first to intervene.
“How do they intervene; we give them early warnings, the seasonal predictions, including areas that would be affected by the flood.
“So, we expect the communities to first intervene by helping themselves before the state or NEMA comes in.
“It’s not something that we’re happy doing, but it’s a natural disaster that we cannot prevent, but we can reduce it,” she said. (NAN)
