The National Emergency Management Agency has launched the 2025 National Preparedness and Response Campaign to mitigate the impact of flooding on communities in Bauchi.

Speaking during the launching of the campaign on Friday, Bitrus Samuel, deputy director of general services, NEMA, said Bauchi was one of the most high-risk states in terms of flooding, hence the sensitisation by the agency.

According to him, the campaign by NEMA was a strategic plan for preparedness and response to flooding in Nigeria in response to an early information warning by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency.

“The information they gave us is very important, so NEMA is being proactive based on that information. We want to draw out a disaster management implication of those predictions and we have called for a national coordination forum where key stakeholders decided that we take this information to the grassroots.

“What we have come to do here is to sensitise the people that they are likely to experience flooding in this state, as Bauchi is one of the high-risk states in Nigeria.

“That is why we have come here to bring this message for them to take concrete actions using the stakeholders at the state level, using their structures at the local level,” he said.

He explained that the move was imperative, as it equipped the communities with better knowledge of how to avert and respond to the disaster, saying disasters are local as they start from the communities.

“If the community knows what they need to do before the disaster strikes them, they are better prepared and that is what we have come to do here,” he stated.

Stakeholders present at the launching of the campaign include representatives of the army, police, fire services, civil defence xorps, amongst others.

Similarly, the agency took the sensitisation to Muda Lawal market, as one of the communities previously affected by flood and fire.

Speaking to the market leaders, Simon Katu, an NEMA official, said the agency was in the market to give support to the preparedness the market people were making this year.

He explained that at the end of the engagement, there would be a behavioural change and improvement in response and understanding among stakeholders and communities so that in the event of disaster, the outcome would be minimal.

“We want the nation to be better prepared as disaster preparedness, management and response are not the work of the government only.

“We are saying that people should come out, volunteer, and form community groups that will assist because self-help helps before the government’s assistance,” he said.

Responding, Hajara Wanka, the commissioner for humanitarian affairs and disaster management, said the state government had given the matching orders in ensuring adequate preparation and response in all the disaster-prone communities across the state.

(NAN)