The Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC) has called on residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to volunteer as members of community disaster management in territory.
AMMC Consultant on disaster management, Mr. Joseph Shopade made the call at a workshop organised for members drawn from Gwagwalada, Bwari and Municipal area councils in the FCT, held at Gwagwalada, yesterday.
The workshop was organised by AMMC in collaboration with Frontier International Consulting.
Speaking at the workshop, Shopade said the aim was to enhance communities’ knowledge on disaster management as well as mitigate its impact on livelihoods in the FCT.
He further said the workshop would also help deepen awareness on natural and human induced disasters in FCT and articulate community roles and responsibilities in disaster management.
While calling on the participants to take advantage of the lessons learnt to improve their various communities’ capacity for disaster preparedness and prevention, Shopade said respect for principles of confidentiality, good communication and listening skills, ability to respect the feelings and culture of vulnerable persons as well as commitment were criteria for members of the vanguard.
He identified advocacy visits to community leaders, mobilisation, education and sensitsation of stakeholders as well as establishment of community networks as the roles of members of the vanguard.
He said the involvement of community stakeholders in volunteerism for community service would no doubt reduce the current trend of losses during disasters due to the lack of basic information
One of the participants, Mr. James Okewo, said the workshop was timely considering the trend of disaster in the world especially the human induced disasters.
He pledged to be committed to the activities of the vanguard in FCT to further ensure that more members were attracted to enhance its sustainability.