AS the impact of global climate change tends to manifest in different forms, flood which is one of the resultant effect has continued to wreak havoc in many communities.

In fact, there is hardly any day without media reports on flood which has become a major disaster and the highest natural cause of human displacement.

Already many people have been sent out of their homes in areas commonly associated with the disaster in parts of India and the Philippines, among others, with the attendant losses of lives and property.

However, the situation in  Nigeria is not far from the experiences elsewhere. The occurrence of flood has continued to be on the rise in both frequency and magnitude.

In addition to the known high risk communities, locations hitherto thought to be less prone are also increasingly exposed to the disaster from torrential rains, overflow of river banks and blocked drainages.

One of such is the lower parts of Plateau State that comprises six local government areas where about 200 communities were recently devastated by floods which resulted in no less than 40 deaths, over 10, 000 displaced persons and their property destroyed, including farmlands with crops.

The local government areas are Mikang, Shendam, Kanam, Wase, Langtang North and Lantang South.

The flood had caught the affected communities unawares as they were said to have never experienced such in the past 40 years or more. Furthermore, the fact that the incidents occurred almost simultaneously across the communities took the people  by surprise.

Although the Nigerian Meteorological Agency, NIMET, had issued a warning of expected heavy rain with likely floods in some states, Plateau was not included in the high risk list.

Interestingly, few months earlier, there was similar incident in Rikkos area of Jos, the state capital, which caused about 38 deaths and displaced thousands.
The situation in the lower Plateau requires urgent humanitarian assistance.
Therefore, in addition to the various assistance from the communities and the local government councils, the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, was at hand with quick response relief items to provide immediate succour to the displaced persons.

In less than 72 hours, truckloads of relief materials were promptly delivered. Though Director General of the Agency, Alhaji Muhammad Sani- Sidi, was in Saudi Arabia for the lesser Hajj, he was represented by NEMA’s Director of Relief and Rehabilitation, Mr Edward Maigida, who went round the affected areas distributing the items.

The distribution of the relief materials in some of the areas were almost as difficult as the pains brought by the flood.

Most of the bridges built across the rivers in the area were suddenly washed away in cutting off access to the people. In Shendam, for instance, NEMA officials were forced to temporarily suspend the distribution and control the crowds from hanging parts of a collapsed bridge located at the heart of the town.

In Mikang Local government area, the distribution was delayed by the burial of a woman who had died from the flood after her home was submerged by the water and collapsed over her.  The NEMA staff had to resort to mobilising local support in the transport of its relief materials across the rivers where the bridges had been washed away in moving the assistance to the displaced persons that were now cut off from the supply.

However,  at the distribution of the materials, the representative of NEMA, Mr Maigida conveyed the sympathy of the Federal Government to the affected persons and said the items were delivered to provide quick relief based on the rapid assessment of the situation while further assistance may be considered after the detail assessment.

He advised communities living in the high risk areas to immediately relocate to safer locations for avoidable losses of lives and property in the remaining period of the rain season.

Though it is practically impossible to compensate the people for their losses, relief assistance tends to offer succour and some sense of belonging.

This was corroborated by the response of the Emir of Wase, Alhaji Muhammadu Sambo Haruna, when he noted that the presence of NEMA officials hours after the flood brought some relief to the people even before the actual arrival of the items.

He then thanked the Federal Government and NEMA for the kind gesture, especially for the timely response to the situation.

A lot more is still required to complement the quick relief of NEMA in helping those affected by the flood recover from their losses, including providing access across the rivers in the lower areas of Plateau State.

Mr. MANZO EZEKIEL, a staff of NEMA, wrote from Abuja.