By: Hasfatu Z. Bangura
National Disaster Management Agency Sierra Leone (NDMA) on Thursday, 1st September, 2022 has updated Journalists on the out-come of the August 28th mudslide in Looking Town and other parts of the country.
They made these statements at the Ministry of information and communications conference room Youyi Building in Freetown at their usual press briefing to Journalists.
The NDMA has documented eight (8) fatalities; six (6) at Looking Town, one (1) at Mount Aureol, and one (1) at Black Hall Road. The five (5) victims who sustained injuries are being treated at the Connaught Hospital.
The Director of communication at NDMA, Mohamed L. Bah, stated that his Directorate’s efforts is risk identification and hazard mapping, specifically within Freetown and what has been done to minimize the risks in prone communities.
‘We have established District Disaster Management Committees across the country; community volunteers in thirty-three (33) prone settlements and trained them on managing their hazards. With the technical support of MetSL, we have also been sending early warning alerts to residents in prone communities on weather conditions”,Mr Bah revealed.
The Agency’s Director of Relief and Response, Mr. Bangura updated the media that field officers are conducting assessments together with partners. He stated that the pillar on registration together with partners is working assiduously to complete the evaluation and present a report very soon.
“We have had meetings with all our partners, especially those in charge of registration. We have divided ourselves into 12 groups to quickly capture all the 18 affected communities. The assessment report would be shared with partners immediately to determine their type and level of response”, he informed.
NDMA’s Director of Research, Monitoring and Evaluation, Abu Bakarr Bangura during his presentation, explained the factors responsible for the mudslide and flooding.
He pointed out: “Climate change and extreme weather conditions, poor urban planning, poor waste management, regaining of swamp lands, building on waterways and beyond demarcated zones, sand mining and poorly constructed houses and/or makeshift structures are largely responsible for the continuous floods in Freetown”.
He said they are building early warning system that will prevent event of the August 28th flooding and mudslide reoccuring, he said they are building tools that will help people to send in voice message and text message to the NDMA.
In another Update:
Mr John K Ansumana Deputy Director at the Ministry of Basic Education said the sum of 2billion leones old note now 2Million leones new note has been paid for the Annual School Census.
He spoke about the Annual School Census and achievements of the Free Quality School Education.
He said the mission of the Ministry is to provide equal opportunity to access basic technical vocational and higher education for all.
Furthermore he said, the Annual School Census is a strategic effort of the Ministry to collect Education Data and Statistics.
He said 12,168 schools visited, 80,744 teachers recorded of an Average class size 59, 3,131,440 pupils enrolled of which he said 49% male and 51% female and that 389,283 pupils benefitted from the school feeding program.
The Deputy Director at the Ministry of Basic Education in a series of powe point slides shows the success of the Free Quality School Education Programmed.
