ABUJA- The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) on Thursday urged emergency respondents in the country to adhere to incident commands in responding to emergencies.
The Coordinator of the Agency in Abuja, Mr Ishaya Chonoko, made the call in a keynote address at a workshop organised for emergency response stakeholders.
The workshop was organized to address gaps in handling mass casualties at scenes of explosions.
“While we commend the efforts of our emergency response stakeholders, however, gaps have been identified in recent mass casualty incident response operations.
“A typical example is the explosion at Emab plaza, which was characterised by uncoordinated rescue efforts, independent activities by stakeholders resulting in poor accountability and inefficient tracking of casualties,’’ Chonoko said.
He said disaster management had shifted from relief intervention to pre-disaster planning and called for increased mitigation plans in the country. [eap_ad_1] Chonoko said the impact of climate change was on the increase worldwide and stressed the need for the development of emergency evacuation and mass shelter plans in communities that are prone to flood disasters.
“In a proactive move, countries round the globe have put in place measures to mitigate the devastating impact of climate change on vulnerable communities and cities,’’ he said.
Chonoko said flood disasters were one of the challenges facing the country and urged the stakeholders to proffer strategies to combat its effects on vulnerable communities.
Some participants at the training pledged to strengthen inter agency synergy in responding to emergency.
A representative of the FCT Police Command, CSP N. Gomwalk, said the command would cooperate with other emergency respondents to save lives in emergencies.
He identified uncoordinated rescue efforts by stakeholders as one of the challenges hindering emergency activities in the country.
Gomwalk urged stakeholders to build synergy during emergency response by putting victims’ interest above their pride. (NAN)
[eap_ad_4]