IMPENDING FLOOD: OGBARU COMMUNITIES DEMAND FOR MORE HOLDING CAMPS
Residents of Ogbaru Local Government Area have appealed to the Federal and Anambra State Governments to consider establishing additional holding centres to contain the people of the area in the event of impending flood disaster as predicted.
This according to them is to reduce the level of challenges and difficulties experienced by flood victims at the few holding camps provided by government last year.
They made the call when a combined team of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) went on sensitization tour of Ogbaru Local Government Area to alert them of the impending flood.
During the 2018 flood disaster, about eleven thousand, eight hundred and twenty-eight Internally Displaced Persons (IDPS) were hosted in three holding camps established by the Anambra State Government.
Also within the period, about twelve deaths were recorded in the local government area with twenty-seven deliveries in camps.
It was on this premise that the people of the area made a passionate appeal to the Federal and State Governments to create more holding centres that would accommodate more people if eventually the predicted flood occurred.
The Chairman of Ogbaru Local Government Area, M.r Arinze Awogu, who decried the burden and challenges they encountered last year, said there was the need for government to, as a matter of urgency, make provisions for medics, mobility, and other logistics to avoid a repeat of the ugly experiences they had in 2018.
Mr. Awogu also requested that any support and relief item meant for the people, especially farm inputs, be made get to the farmers early enough and not during harvesting period.
Some other respondents, including Mr. Umunna Nsofor, Mrs. Ogochukwu Chukwudi and Mr. Chike Ogboma, harped on the need for government to construct more access roads and also consider schools in the riverine communities whenever support would be given to flood victims.
The traditional ruler of Ochuche, while appreciating the roles emergency agencies played whenever flood occurred, called for the immediate dredging of the River Niger as well as other rivers within the area as a permanent solution to the annual flood disaster in Anambra State.
The Zonal Coordinator, National Emergency Management Agency, Mr. Fred Anusim said the appropriate authorities, including Ministry of Water Resources, would be briefed on the need to dredge River Niger as such step would help to reduce the impact of flooding in the area.
In an interview, the Executive Secretary of Anambra State Emergency Management Agency, Chief Paul Odenigbo, who was represented by the Media Executive Assistant to the Governor on SEMA, Mr. Emeka Obinwa, said government would brainstorm on the possibilities of creating additional holding centres as requested by the people of Ogbaru.
He commended Governor Willie Obiano for his interest in emergency response to the people and called on those in the riverine communities to be getting ready for the impending flood.
UCHE NDEKE