The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), in conjunction with the Abia State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), has donated food items to fire victims in six communities.

The communities are in Arochukwu, Bende, Ohafia, Umuahia North, and Umuahia South local government areas (LGAs).

The communities suffered severe fire outbreaks that destroyed private and public property worth millions of naira and injured many people between the last quarter of 2024 and January.

In a speech at the formal handover of the items to representatives of the communities in Umuahia on Thursday, the executive secretary of SEMA, Sunday Jackson, said the gesture was intended “to cushion the effect of the fire on the victims.”

He described the magnitude of the fire outbreaks as “overwhelming and far above the capacity of the communities to cope with.”

The SEMA boss said that after assessing the extent of the damage in the affected communities, he wrote to NEMA, and it responded.

The head of operations, NEMA, Owerri Office, Nnamdi Igwe, conveyed the condolences of the agency to the communities and individuals affected by the fire outbreaks.

Mr Igwe admonished the representatives of the affected communities to ensure that the items got down to the actual victims of the incidents.

“No matter how small the items may be, the intention is for the people to have a feeling that the federal government cared and responded to their needs at the trying moments of their lives,” Mr Igwe said.

In a vote of thanks, one of the representatives of the benefiting communities, Ken Nwachukwu, thanked SEMA and NEMA “for doing the needful to cushion the effect of the incidents on the victims.”

(NAN)