The Federal Capital Territory Emergency Management Agency FEMA said it has now reduced its disaster response time to three minutes, following its enhanced collaboration with sister agencies and establishment of emergency Marshalls, Vanguards, Divers and Volunteers across the territory.
Acting Director General of the agency, Ibrahim Mohammed Sabo, who disclosed this at a news conference Tuesday in Abuja said distress calls have also reduced as some residents are now aware of immediate strategies to employ in preventing disasters or mitigating them.
He said; “Distress calls in FCT have reduced drastically because we have been using our Marshalls, Vanguards, divers and volunteers to sensitize communities towards prevention and mitigation of disasters.
“The response time too has been improved upon. Initially, we had five minutes as response time but we have been able to bring it down to three minutes.
“We have been able to synergize with sister agencies like development control, fire service and others while we have also conducted vulnerability assessment of residents bordering on age, socio economic status, disabilities and gender. We have a data of vulnerable persons within the city”.
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He added that with the full support of the FCTA the agency saved about 1,842 lives during fire incidents.
“No life was lost. We saved property worth about N99.3m from fires.
“As per building collapse, we saved 174 lives, lost four unfortunately. In the case of flooding, we saved 2, 864 lives, lost four.
“The Administration has vowed to continue to take actions against anyone involved in disasters. If a disaster happens, it will be investigated, especially in cases of building collapse and fire incidents. Such persons would be prosecuted”.
