The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), has stressed the need for continuous support from stakeholders in the country, also assuring of its continuous collaboration with the media for active disaster mitigation and management.

The North West Zonal Coordinator of the agency, Alhaji Musa Ilalah gave this assurance Thursday in Kaduna during a courtesy call on him by officials of Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Kaduna Council led by the Chairman, Comrade Garba Muhammed.

Ilalah said no organisation can operate and succeed in vacuum without utilizing the media, hence, NEMA would always partner the media to ensure its aims and objectives are achieved seamlessly.

According to him, promoting disaster management and mitigation was a task that requires all critical stakeholders and the media attention.

He asserted that NEMA, North West has enjoyed a tremendous partnership with the media in Kaduna.

He said the agency’s stakeholder network was large such that even a peasant farmer in a remote village could be utilised to achieve the agency’s objectives, and as such he can be utilized.

“The media in Kaduna has always aided NEMA with useful advice and the heeding to the advice by the agency has gone a long way in saving of lives and property,” he stressed.

Ilalah said one of the greatest challenges of the agency was funding, but they are working within available means to make best use of the limited resources.

“Our goal is to ensure free disaster environment through proactive measures in collaboration with other agencies through mass sensitisation and street campaigns to avert and mitigate disaster.

“As a team, we can make better impact and achieve more results,” he asserted.

In his remarks, the chairman of Kaduna State NUJ, Comrade Garba Muhammad stressed the importance of taking the media along in the agency’s activities.

He applauded the prompt response of the agency to calls and cry for assistance, especially the recent visit to internally displaced persons (IDPs) camps within Kaduna to evaluate their conditions and needs.

Rescuers were searching through wrecked houses and mounds of earth for 15 villagers still missing after days of rain triggered the landslips and flash floods on mountainous Java island over the weekend.

They were using excavators to hunt for survivors in more accessible areas, and in more remote places were digging through debris with their bare hands and shovels.

Disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said 47 people were confirmed dead, 15 were missing and 14 had suffered injuries.

Hundreds of homes were badly damaged, with some completely flattened.

He said a La Nina weather system, which typically causes unseasonably heavy rains, could have contributed to the flooding.

Java, which should be entering the dry season, has been hit by torrential downpours in recent weeks.

"This June there's still heavy rainfall which is causing floods and landslides," Mr Nugroho said, warning La Nina was set to strengthen in the coming months, increasing the risk of disasters.

Indonesia and other parts of Asia had been affected by a strong El Nino, which brings drought and sizzling temperatures.

La Nina often follows an El Nino phenomenon.

Mr Nugroho also blamed inadequate preparations, saying his agency had warned local authorities that heavy rains were coming but it was not clear if they had taken action.

Evacuation centres, equipped with temporary shelters and kitchens, have been set up near the disaster zones.

source: http://www.abc.net.au