2012 flood killed 363, destroyed N2.6tn property – NEMA

North-Central Zonal Coordinator of the National Emergency Management Agency, Abdulsalam Muhammad, has said 363 persons lost their lives while properties worth N2.6tr were destroyed during last year’s floods that ravaged some parts of the country.
Abdulsalam, who said this on Wednesday in Jos, Plateau State, at a two-day workshop organised by NEMA on Disaster Risk Reduction in Schools and Strengthening Response Mechanism among stakeholders, said over seven million Nigerians were affected by the disaster.
He added that 2.3 million people were totally displaced across the country as the flood destroyed 600,000 houses as recorded by NEMA.
The NEMA boss said children were most affected by the floods as many schools were destroyed forcing the children out of schools for months.
He said, “It is a known fact that children are among the most vulnerable population as during a disaster, school buildings may be destroyed, taking away the precious lives of children and teachers and stalling access to education in the aftermath of disaster.
“The agency recognised the importance of involvement of young people in disaster management and established Disaster Risk Reduction clubs in schools to sustain the existence and activities of these clubs.”
The NEMA boss said there was an ongoing process of making DRR an integral part of the educational curriculum of schools in the country.
“Disaster management is the duty of everybody; therefore, we must rise up to face it squarely, NEMA’s vision is to build a culture of preparedness, response and community resilience of all stakeholders on response/preparedness to disaster predicted or not,” he said.
Earlier in her remark, one of the resource persons, Mrs. Mercy Ajuzie, said a vigorous renewal of focus on DRR education in primary and secondary schools as well as raising awareness would reduce the level of damage during disaster.
“There is increasing evidence that students of all ages can actively study and participate in schools’ safety measures and also work with teachers or other adults in the community toward minimising risk before, during and after disastrous events,” Ajuzie said