347 displaced as mudslide, flood ravage Cross River

Torrential rainfall has displaced no fewer than 347 people in Cross River State after mudslides and flash floods ravaged communities in the state in August, the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) has said.

The Director-General of CR-SEMA, Mr Efa Nyong, disclosed this while speaking with journalists in Calabar on Tuesday.

Nyong said 167 people were rendered homeless by a mudslide in Calabar, while about 180 others were displaced by heavy rainfall in the Central Senatorial District.

He said the affected persons were currently being sheltered at various locations in Calabar and parts of the Central Senatorial District.

Nyong, who assumed office on July 14, attributed the disasters to both natural occurrences and human activities.

“Basically, two things are happening. They are happening out of natural occurrence and, secondly, out of human activity. That is all that is happening currently in the state as regards disasters,” he said.

The SEMA boss said he had visited communities in the Southern and Central Senatorial Districts to sensitise residents on disaster prevention.

He added that the agency planned to extend the sensitisation campaign to the Northern Senatorial District before commencing a statewide advocacy programme involving billboards, radio jingles and town criers.

Nyong identified indiscriminate refuse disposal as a major contributor to flooding, warning that the consequences of dumping waste could be felt several kilometres away from where it was disposed.

“When people throw waste indiscriminately, it may not show its impact immediately where it is dumped. Its impact could be a couple of kilometres away from where the activity was carried out,” he explained.

On fire outbreaks, he urged residents to switch off electrical appliances when not in use, replace faulty cables and bulbs promptly and upgrade electrical wiring where necessary.

Explaining the state’s disaster-response mechanism, Nyong said the Local Emergency Management Committee (LEMC), coordinated by the vice-chairman of each local government area, serves as the first responder.

He said cases beyond the capacity of the local committees were escalated to SEMA, then the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), and eventually to international partners where necessary.

“Where we cannot manage it at the level of the state, we push it further to NEMA, when they cannot manage it at that level, we begin to seek international assistance,” he said.

Nyong identified the Nigerian Red Cross Society as one of SEMA’s key partners in providing shelter and other assistance to displaced persons.

On the financial cost of the disasters, he said it was difficult to put a monetary value on the destruction because of fluctuations in the value of the naira.

“We cannot quantify it because if you want to bring it back to what it was, we don’t know the current state of the naira,” he said.

He, however, disclosed that relief materials and financial assistance had been provided by government and private donors as the agency continued efforts to stabilise and resettle the affected persons.