The Ebonyi State Emergency Management Agency (EBSEMA) says it has embarked on proactive measures to prevent flood disasters in the state.
The Executive Secretary of EBSEMA, Mr Clement Ovuba, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abakaliki on Tuesday.
Ovuba said that the agency had visited and revamping its internally displaced camps, informing people living in water prone areas to relocate to high land areas to avoid disaster.
He added that the agency had facilitated the desilting of drainage channels to minimize flood impacts.
He said other strong measures include reactivation of local emergency management committee and establishing communication lines to get first hand information of possible flood incidents at the rural level.
According to him, the residents are complying with precautionary measures and warning given.
“We are really prepared to mitigate negativities that will come from flooding,” the executive secretary said.
Ovuba further stated that the agency had received the 2026 seasonal climate prediction for preparation and mitigation strategies.
He said that while other activities were carried out on the preparation, the agency still awaited approval of fund from the state government to execute a massive sensitization campaigns.
He advised residents to take precautions and warning from SEMA, environmental agency and other concerned authorities to prevent disaster.
“We are waiting for the state government to release funds to continue our radio jungles, organize stakeholders meeting and other strategy to migrate flood.
“Annual outlook of rain is anticipated to give us specific areas to watch out,” he said.
The SEMA boss lauded Gov Francis Nwifuru’s intervention and supports to survivors of Okporojo attack in Edda local government of the state.
“Between January and now, we have attended to the land dispute attack on okporojo people where victims were assisted with about N70 million by the governor to cushion effect of damage incurred.
“Building materials, foams among other relief items were given to victims whose houses were burnt during the attack.
“We had also attended to fire incident victims at Onuebonyi,” Ovuba stated. (NAN)
