ActionAid Nigeria has set up community-based disaster/risk reduction committees in Adavi and Igalamela/Odolu Local Government Areas of Kogi State to liaise with communities and forestall or manage disaster.
State Project Manager of ActionAid, who is also the Executive Director of Participation Initiative for Behavioural Change in Development (PIBCID), Mr. Victor Adejoh, disclosed this.
He said that the committees were inaugurated recently at Okpakpata and Aku communities in Igalamela/Odolu and Adavi Local Government Areas respectively in collaboration with the State Emergency Management Agency.
A press statement signed and made available to The Graphic by Gift Omoniwa of PIBCID on behalf of Mr. Adejoh, indicated that the establishment of the committees was part of the organisation’s sensitisation drive on disaster/risk reduction.
The sensitisation meetings and inauguration of the committees were intended to create awareness on disaster/risk reduction concepts and techniques.
The statement further explained that, ‘’the committees will be responsible for capacity-building, orientation of community members on disaster risk assessment, risk communication to relevant security agencies, structural mitigation, livelihood and advocacy.’’
It also charged the committees to promote participatory disaster risk management and also report cases of emergency in their various communities to appropriate security agencies.
The document was assertive that the sensitisation meetings created more awareness in members of Okpakpata and Aku communities about disaster/risk management.
Source: The Graphic
