NAN-H-66
Mortality
By Sumaila Ogbaje
Abuja, Oct. 13, 2016 (NAN) The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) says it is committed to enhancing efforts towards reducing mortality through appropriate risk reduction measures.
The Director-General, Alhaji Muhammad Sani-Sidi, said this on Thursday in Abuja at the 2016 International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction with the theme “Live to Tell” in Abuja.
He said that the combination of natural hazards and vulnerability posed a constant threat to both lives and livelihood, adding that the world was witnessing a rapidly increasing impact of disasters.
NEMA boss noted disaster risks were on the increase in the African region with unacceptable impacts.
Sani-Sidi said the threat from natural disasters was urgent and needed immediate concerted attention.
“Our response to this challenge will ensure the protection and well-being of our future generation by building resilience on a sustainable platform.
“Every single day, Nigeria loses thousands of under-five-year-olds and hundreds of women of child-bearing age.
“This makes the country the second largest contributor to the under-five and maternal mortality rate in the world.
“It is, therefore, pertinent that concerted efforts need to be taken by all to drastically reduce mortality rate in Nigeria.’’
Sani-Sidi said stressed that disaster risk reduction needed to be all inclusive with adequate budgetary allocation.
In his message, Mr Moses Beckley, the Director-General, Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA), stressed the need to promote a global culture of risk reduction and disaster awareness.
Beckley said the UN had indicated that women and children worldwide were up to 14 times more likely to die in disaster than men.
He said that 50 per cent maternal deaths and 56 per cent of under-age deaths take place in conflict settings, adding that people with disabilities and older people were also affected.
According to him, hundreds of millions of people all over the world live at the risk of one form of disaster or another such as floods, droughts, earthquake, mudslides and storms.
“Floods are ravaging many communities and have striped people of their livelihood while the fear of earth tremor is looming in the central part of the country.
“Therefore, there is need for concerted effort by the civil society and the private sector to partner with the government in elevating people’s exposure on the risk of natural disasters.
“Practical action is needed to connect humanitarian disaster, risk reduction and risk management with the need to build disaster preparedness to reducing loss of lives and sustaining its gains for the benefit of all,’’ he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the International Day for Disaster Reduction is marked to assess how people and communities around the world are reducing their exposure to disasters.
The day is also meant to raise awareness about the importance of limiting the risks that people face. (NAN)
OYS/DO/NKO
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Edited by David Onilede/Nkechi Okoronkwo
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