The National Disaster Management Agency [NDMA-SL] has unveiled their National and Flood Mitigation Strategy in their Inter-pillar Coordination strategic meeting on Thursday 29th, February 2024.
In his opening statement, the Deputy Director General of the National Disaster Management Agency Mr. John V. Rogers emphasized on the importance of the coordination meeting ahead of the rainy season. Therefore, he stated that, there is need to commence mitigation activities in order to prevent flooding in the f forthcoming rainy season.
He further mentioned that the Directorate of Risk within NDMA has been working assiduously towards disaster prevention in the country, adding that, the purpose of the coordination meeting to present the flood mitigation Strategy of the agency to its partners for their contributions and assessment.
The head of the Directorate of Disaster Risk at NDMA, Mr. Thomas Lebbie recalled that decade ago flooding were only experience in few slums Communities in Freetown such as Kroobay, Sudan’s Bay stating further that, currently flooding is occurring everywhere in the country, which makes it a national.
He mentioned that, there are several causes of flooding in Sierra Leone which includes t heavy downpour of rains, steep topography, poor drainage infrastructure, urbanisation and land use challenges, informal settlements, poor waste management, deforestation and soil erosion.
NDMA-SL is an Agency established by an Act of Parliament to manage disasters and similar emergencies throughout Sierra Leone.