Top officials of the Department of Water Resources on 2 September 2013
briefed journalists on the 29-30 August rainfall that persisted more than
forty-eight hours.
Speaking at the briefing, the director of water resources, Pa Ousman Jarjue, thanked the media for responding to their invitation.
The purpose of the forum, he noted, was to gather journalists and discuss with them the rainfall situation in the country and last week’s heavy rains in particular.
According to him, the role of the media is key in informing the public about happenings for people to take mitigation steps and actions.
The Department of Water Resources would continue to improve in their quest to communicate relevant information to the public, he said.
He also said they do inform the National Disaster Management Agency on such matters but was quick to add that they have staff constraints and could not inform the general public as they would have loved to be doing.
Based on that, he noted, the department would collaborate with the media in the future to ensure the general public is well sensitised and informed on events that are about to happen.
He added that the department of water resources could predict on what is about to happen in thirty six hours.
“Every year we experience such a heavy rainfall but people find it very difficult to know when it will actually happen and it is their responsibility to remind people what is going to happen,” he said.
For his part, the deputy director of water resources, Bernard Gomez, stressed that the public needs to know such information.
The forum will also give the media practitioners the opportunity to discuss the impacts of weather conditions and possible ways of handling the situation, Mr Gomez intimated.