Gambia: NDMA trains traditional communicators on DRR

The National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) in collaboration with UNESCO/NATCOM on Monday January 30th 2012 organised two-day training on disaster risk reduction (DRR) for traditional communicators in the country. The training held in Jajanbureh, Central River Region (CRR) and was funded by UNESCO, BEREDA with participants drawn from the five regions, namely: North Bank Region (NRR), West Coast Region (WRR), Lower River Region (LRR), Upper River Region (URR)and CRR. Speaking at the opening ceremony, the Governor Central River Region, highlighted the importance of the training, adding that it will go a long way in reducing disasters in the country. He lamented that in recent months the region witnessed a lot of fire disasters that have rendered many people homeless. He noted that poor land use planning; environment mismanagement and lack of effective regulatory mechanisms have contributed immensely towards increasing the risk and vulnerabilities of communities to disasters.

The Executive Director of NDMA, Essa Khan said the world is gradually shifting from basically responding to disasters to their prevention and mitigation. He further said that the training will contribute immensely towards reducing disaster within the communities. He called on the trainees to make best use of the skills and knowledge acquired during the training and spread the message in various communities. Khan also spoke at length on the rampant fire disasters in the country both in the urban and rural areas, adding that some of them are not by accident. He stressed the need for investigation to be conducted in such outbreaks so that those responsible in case of negligence or deliberate acts can be dealt with according to law. He finally commended NATCOM for their support. For his part the chief of the area emphasized on the importance of the training, saying that it will increase the awareness of the communities on DRR. He urged the people to make fire belts around their compounds, villages and avoid settling in waterways. He finally thanked the NDMA and partners for organizing such an important training. The Disaster Management Coordinator for the Central River Region said the training will equip the traditional communicators with the knowledge and skills on how to enhance information dissemination at community level on DRR. The Regional Disaster Coordinator of the West Coast Region chaired the occasion.