Maiduguri flood disaster is a call for proactive emergency management

BY KENECHUKWU AGUOLU

Disasters could be man-made like civil unrest, wars, pollution or natural like floods, erosions, landslides and earthquakes. The recent flood disaster in Maiduguri ravished the city and caused monumental damage. Many lives and property were lost, and many people are yet to find their loved ones. There are also fears of a major disease outbreak.

The flood highlights the need for Nigeria to shift to a more proactive emergency management system which involves paying more attention to mitigation and preparedness. Effective emergency management goes beyond just announcing the possibility of a disaster occurring and distributing relief when it occurs.

Mitigation aims to reduce the likelihood or impact of disasters. It involves measures such as having an early warning system in place restricting development in high-risk areas, promoting proper waste disposal to prevent blockages in drainage systems, ensuring people don’t build on waterways, fortifying infrastructure like dams, reinforcing critical structures, preventing deforestation to curb erosion, gathering intelligence to identify and address underlying grievances that may lead to civil conflicts.

Preparedness involves having comprehensive response plans, training personnel, and having all the resources in place to respond to emergencies. It requires agility. For example, since there were warning signals about the flood in Maiduguri, plans should have been in place to evacuate people living in high-risk areas to safe camps.

Better funding, coordination, collaboration and information exchange among key stakeholders, including the National Emergency Management Agency, state emergency management agencies, local authorities, fire services, NIMET, and security agencies, are essential for a more proactive and effective management system in Nigeria. It is imperative to involve professional project managers to ensure objectives are met.

There is a need for robust data gathering and analysis to enable effective identification of vulnerabilities. risk assessment and streamlining mitigation and response strategies. Nigeria should embrace the use of more technology in emergency management as the use of advanced tools like Geographical Information Systems, remote sensing, and predictive modellingbto improve hazard monitoring and early warning capabilities.

The flood in Maiduguri has highlighted the need to rejig Nigeria’s emergency management system to be more proactive and agile to significantly reduce the risk of occurrence and impact of disasters. It involves a holistic approach, by ensuring proper town planning, carrying out integrity tests on critical infrastructures like dams and fortifying when necessary, having early warning signals and evacuation plans, etc. Enough of the avoidable loss of lives and properties in Nigeria.

Kenechukwu Aguolu can be contacted via [email protected]