Sierra Leone News: Save the Children educate councillors on disaster risk management

Business

To minimize the high rate of disaster within communities in the country, Save the Children Sierra Leone together with Office of National Security and the Freetown City Council engaged community leaders, councillors in a one-day workshop aimed at addressing the high risk of disasters in communities. The workshop was held on June 4, at the Grassroots Gender empowerment Conference hall, John Street in Freetown with attendance from councillors, community leaders and women’s group, mostly from the slum areas of the city which are highly prone to disasters. Speaking on behalf of the participants, Councillor Mabinty of Susan’s Bay community stated firmly to Save the Children and ONS that their communities are at high risks, as they experience flooding every time it rains heavily, and this she added is as a result of poor drainage system within their communities. She stated that as a Councillor, she is worried and concerned over this issue, as life and properties are at risk, stressing the need for a collaborative effort from the government and development partner to address the urgent rise in disaster within communities. To confirm her statement, she made mention of a victim who recently died of tetanus, due to injury sustained from a broken bottle at Susan’s Bay and many related cases have been reported, she added She therefore called on ONS, Save the Children and the government to visit these disaster prone areas and help find mechanism to salvage these situations, to avoid more disasters. The health program officer of Save the Children, Sahr Juana said the workshop focused on issues relating to the role of councils in community disaster risk management and their preparedness and responses towards disaster in their respective communities, noting that most communities are at high risk of disaster because of their deplorable conditions, noting the importance of disaster risk management within communities as residents in disaster prone areas, especially those leaving in slum areas, as they are liable to flooding. He cautioned community leaders to take precautions to situations that will lead to fire incidents, and to avoid living in areas close to or under big rocks, as this can be extremely dangerous. He admonished them to implement all the practices they have learnt during the workshop and also engage their people on disaster risk management. The disaster risk management officer ONS, Nathaniel Kamara stated that the ONS has been working relentlessly to minimize disaster in the country, as it is a security concern for the government. Kamara said disaster Risk Management is a vital issue that needs to be addressed, as this has destroyed life and properties because of carelessness and the ineffective response services. The workshop will help improved on skills of local community leaders in addressing disaster risk management. By Mariam Bah Thursday June 05, 2014

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