At least thirty Regional Disaster Management Committee members in the Central River Region (CRR) were over the weekend sensitised on the National Disaster Management Agency Act and Policy, at a forum held at the Governor's Bantaba in
Declaring the forum open, the Governor of CRR Alhagie Ganyi Touray described the meeting as timely and relevant. As he put it, disaster is unpredictable.
According to him, disaster could be very dangerous and the committee who is also involved in its preparedness, mitigation and responses should know the act and policy governing their operations.
He urged the participants to make the best use of the forum in order to familiarise themselves with some of the regulations.
For his part, Mr. Bubacarr Fofana, the Regional Coordinator for disaster management in CRR highlighted the importance of mainstreaming disaster mitigation into relevant areas of activities of the government, NGO's and Civil Society Organisation.
According to him, the systemic incorporation of international, regional, national, local disaster risk reduction strategies and approaches into the implementation of emergency preparedness, response and recovery is of paramount importance.
Mr. Lamin Samateh, the lead facilitator said that the function of the committee is to enforce disaster management in its regions. He advised members of the committee to follow the guidelines as provided in the Act for the purpose of integration of measures for the prevention of disasters and mitigation in their development plans and projects.
According to him, the Regional Disaster Committee is mandated to give directions for the release and use of available resources, control and restrict traffic within the vulnerable or affected areas.
The closing remarks was delivered by Mr. Lamin S. Jaiteh, the Director of Agency for Village Support in Kaur (AVISU), who commended the participants for their participation, without which, he noted, there can't be any success.
The forum ended with a formation of disaster sub-committees for CRR North and South that will work with the Regional Disaster Management Committee (RDMC) in ensuring effective working environment.
