Mr. Dahaba made the remarks in an interview with The Point on Tuesday at his office as the 2024 rains have begun in earnest.
He observed that most flooding in The Gambia are man-made with people deliberately settling on water logs and water ways that are vulnerable to flooding.
He stated that the population does not comply with experts’ advice and government does not also enforce enough, therefore making compliance and enforcement the biggest challenge for his office.
He highlighted that until the population changes its attitude, they would continue to face challenges in terms of addressing disaster response needs of the people.
He singled out communities such as Tallingding Farokono, Bakau Farokono and Faji Kunda Dingkokono, saying that their names amplify that they are inhabitable but people still deliberately settle there.
This, he said is causing serious problems for disaster management in the country. He therefore advised people to avoid settling in such areas and adhere to experts’ advice so that together they could build their resilience.
“We have the upland but people will still choose to settle on water logged areas and water ways. These are causing serious problems in this country,” he said.
According to him, government is investing heavily in disaster management and risk reduction but the population’s attitude is impacting heavily on the investment, saying that the economic damage to the government is huge.
Mr. Dahaba through the government and relevant stakeholders thanked the Office of the Vice President for coordinating disaster management and governance in the country.
He said when the July, August and September (JAS) Rain Prediction Report was out, the Office of the Vice President sanctioned partners and government officials lead by the minister for Environment, Climate Change and Natural Resources to go around and assess the level of most hot spot flood prone areas preparedness as it was predicted that the rains this year will be above normal.
The move, he added will enable government to do a disaster risk assessment and take measures to avert disaster issues impacting heavily on the lives and livelihood of the population.
He added that the government in collaboration with stakeholders and partners is taking measures such as cleaning drainages, collecting rubbish, and engineering among other measures to enhance preparedness and significantly reduce the impact of flooding on the lives and livelihood of the population.
He said such measures were carried out last year and it had a significant impact with a country hardly registering a disaster during the rainy season.
He concluded by thanking the population as the first responder when disasters strike.
