No fewer than 250 victims of flood and other natural disasters in Igbo-Etiti Local Government Area of Enugu State have received relief materials from the state government.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons also donated farm implements to the victims.
Nkechi Eneh, the Executive Secretary of Enugu State Emergency Management Agency, said on Friday in Enugu, that the beneficiaries were victims of a flood disaster that occurred in August.
Eneh, while handing over the items to the victims, said that over 70 houses were submerged and other property were destroyed by the flood.
She said: “When we received the information, our response team visited the scenes for an on-the-spot assessment of the incident.
“The level of damage we saw was huge but we thank God no life was lost.”
The executive secretary said that the state government had immediately after the assessment provided temporary relief to the victims.
Eneh appealed to the residents of the flood-prone area to always heed early warnings in order to be safe at such times.
She also cautioned against building on waterways and blockage of drains, adding that in extreme cases “you relocate when there is threat of flood.
Eneh said: “We have been sensitising people on the dangers of building on waterways and blocking drainages and we cannot be saying this every rainy season.”
Eneh said it was necessary for the people to embark on activities that would make the environment sustainable.
In a goodwill message, Jane Molokwu, the South-East Zonal Coordinator of National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons, said the commission was pained by the plight of the victims.
Molukwu urged them to always take proactive measures in managing incidences of flood as some were human induced.
She said that the donation by the commission was a way of empathising with the victims, adding that it would in no way equate with their losses.
The Secretary of the local government area, Moses Agudiegwu, said that they were excited to have been remembered by the federal and state governments.
Agudiegwu, who received the materials on behalf of the victims, said the intervention had given them some measures of relief, adding that they would ever remain appreciative of such kindness.
One of the victims, Nnamdi Ochi, who recounted his predicament during the incident, said that over 70 per cent of the houses in the area were affected by the rainstorm and flood.
Ochi said that it took them over two weeks to return to their homes after the disaster.
He said: “The situation has not abated. Each time the rains come we usually build trenches where we hide our families. Our family property is not even in our houses as we speak.”
The victim said that flood had ravaged the roads leading to their communities such that it had become so difficult to connect with other localities in the area.
NAN reports that some of the items donated included grinding machines, hoes, wheel-barrows, bags of cement, rice, beans, garri, rain booths, matrasses, roofing sheets and wrappers.
Comment here