C’River Worst Hit by Disasters in South-South Region In 2012 – NEMA

by crossriverwatch admin

Buanchor, a village in Boki Local Government Area of Cross Rivers State, where entire villages were almost washed off by landslide has been said to be the worst disaster in the South south in 2012.

South-South zonal coordinator of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) Mr. Emenike Umesi said this during a regional news Conference in Port Harcourt.

Emenike who gave the statistics of the 2012 disaster in the region said that 113,837 persons were displaced in the various disasters that occurred across the six states of the region with Rivers and Cross River States being the most affected.

He said 2,076 persons were displaced by fire disasters while 3,353,210 were affected by flood.

The breakdown of the figures according to the NEMA coordinator also showed that 9,718 persons were displaced by communal clashes, while 1,541 were affected by windstorms.

Emenike said the worst hit was Buanchor, a village in Boki Local Government Area of Cross River State, where almost the entire village was washed off by landslide.

In his words, “Buachor in Boki Local Government Area of Cross Rivers State experienced a very terrible landslide that displaced the entire villagers, while the only secondary school in the area was washed off. The villagers got wind of the landslide and escaped, that is why we did not record any death,’’ he said.

He added that the agency has recorded a major breakthrough in drafting legal frameworks for emergency responses, and that the activities of the agency in 2013 will focus on disaster risk reduction that will centre on training programs in tertiary institutions.

He emphasized the need for various stakeholders like state and local governments as well as other relevant organizations to collaborate with the agency to improve on emergency management in the region.

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