By Peter Amine
Jos – The Plateau State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) says it is waiting for funds to enable it to assist victims of the recent flood disaster in the state.
Mrs Juni Bala, Director, Search and Rescue of the agency, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Jos that the agency had conducted an on-the-spot assessment of the needs of the affected communities.
“Recently, we experienced incidences of flood in some local governments in the state.
“We have Shendam, some parts of Pankshin Local Government;Mangu Local Government, Quan Pan Local Government; Kanam Local Government and Jos East Local Government areas. We first experienced flash flood in Jos North.
“We have undertaken an on-the-spot assessment 0f these areas that were affected by flooding and we have submitted a report to government.
“It is not quite long that we sent the report, we are waiting for the response,’’ she said.
Bala explained that the agency did not have funds of its own to address the situation, and that it was when government went through the report, approved and released the funds that the agency would be able to assist the victims.
She said apart from assisting the victims with food and other materials including farm equipments, the agency would also encourage the local governments to develop a contingency plan on how to attend to emergencies.
She said that the aim of the contingency plan was to enable the local governments to assist the victims first before help would come from the state and national emergencies.
“The flood also affected people that farm near the river banks; we are suggesting that we will educate them to also educate their people not to farm close to the rivers.
“Because the experience is basically that of people that were farming by the river, the flood experienced this year, there were no houses, just farmlands that were affected by the flood,’’ she said.
Bala said SEMA had maintained a cordial relationship with the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), stressing that the on-the-spot assessment was jointly carried out by the two agencies.
According to her, NEMA had also compiled its report on the situation and sent to its headquarters and was also awaiting response.
She advised the people not to live and farm in flood prone areas, and should instead venture into dry season farming. (NAN)
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