AS part of efforts aimed at mitigating the impact of flood disasters, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), yesterday, strategised on how to bridge gaps and prevent floods in Lagos State.
In his speech at a stakeholders’ workshop held in Lagos, Permanent Secretary of LASEMA, Oluwafemi Damilola Oke-Osanyintolu, said: “Flooding in recent time has become a major unavoidable disaster in Lagos State and has thus posed serious threats and damage to the livelihood and sustainability of most of the important settlements and communities in the state.
“There is the need to brainstorm on new ways to tackle it and find practical technologies on prevention, which the state can embrace.”
Oke-Osanyintolu said that with the theme, “Strengthening flood resilience in vulnerable communities,” LASEMA had conducted vulnerability and risk assessment of flood in every part of the state, using an integrated approach of Remote Sense Data and Geographic Information System for evaluation and mapping.
The assessment, he explained, is fundamental to mitigating floods by enabling the agency to provide early warning, efficient and prompt planning, quick response and rehabilitation of affected victims.
On her part, the Director-General of NEMA, Zubaida Umar, who advocated early flood warning and risk mitigation messages to the grassroots, said: “We must work together to safeguard communities at risk, protect critical infrastructure and support uninterrupted socio-economic activities in Lagos.
“We are expected to take actions that will drastically reduce the adverse impact of the flood on the entire landscape and the Nigerian population, especially for the most vulnerable persons living in communities identified to be at risk of flooding.”
