The Kaduna State Emergency Management (KADSEMA) on Thursday commenced monitoring of ongoing hazard mapping and profiling exercise in the state.
The Agency had deployed officials to carry out the exercise across the 23 Local Government Areas of the state.
In Chikun, Kajuru Local Government Area, Mr Mubarak Zakari, a Senior Assessment Officer of the agency, said the monitoring exercise was ongoing simultaneously in all the 23 LGAs.
According to him, the monitoring is to address the challenges being faced by the feild officers and ensure that the data collected is accurate.
He said the exercise was community driven and meant to get information from the people directly affected by disasters, to enable SEMA plan appropriately.
Zakari expressed pleasure over the presence of all key stakeholders in areas visited, including People Living with Disability and women.
He disclosed that the project was being conducted in collaboration with the Nigeria Early Recovery Initiative (NERI) with full funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Anthony Sarina, the field officer for Chikun LGA, said the exercise was going on smoothly.
He appreciated officials of the local government who mobilized community leaders to participate fully in the exercise.
He noted that the engagement had revealed new information “which are not in our profile list of hazards.”
Sarina identified some of the hazards been encountered in some of the wards interacted with to include flooding, waste, erosion, social vices, and drug addiction among the youths.
Elisha Arziki, a participant from Karla ward, Kajuru LGA, commended the agency for the initiative.
He said that their community faces hazards such as flooding and erosion, as well as insecurity which has caused vandalisation of public infrastructure and poverty in the ward.
Arziki appealed to the government for the reconstruction of public infrastructures, including bridges connecting villages to towns for easy movement of farm produce.
The News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) reports that the monitoring team visited Chikun, Kaduna South and Kaduna North LGAs. (NAN)
