By Dada Ahmed.
(c).Al Jazeera.
Certainly, September 2023 has gone down in history as a sad reminder of the consequence of a negative relationship between and the environment resulting in what is generally called a natural disaster.
For North Africa, particularly, Morocco and Libya, September 2023, is no doubt a month they will hate to love. In the case of Morocco, the month represents an earthquake that claimed many lives and a colossal loss of economic resources running to billions of dollars.
As Moroccans bemoan the loss of dear brothers and sisters, a massive flood swooped up in Libya, consuming over 5,000 lives and property worth billions of dollars as well.
Perhaps, Libya has never experienced the most devastating human tragedy in living memory as a sovereign nation such as that of September 2023 flood that visited the country with unquantified calamity.
All of a sudden, an overwhelming flood erupted in Eastern Libya, leaving on its trail sorrow and wailing amid collapsed buildings, even as 10,000 lives could not be accounted for as at the time of this write up.
Tracing the possible cause of the devastating flood, Sky News came out with the picture of torrential rain, loud explosions, and burst dams that wiped out a quarter of the eastern city of Derna with the attendant untold terrible horror in human history.
According to the media organization, Satellite images showed that the Wadi Derna River, which runs from the mountains
through the city and into the sea, has been dry for most of the year, though it floods semi-regularly when it rains.
It further elucidates, “But on a Sunday night of September, Storm Daniel pounded the coast and residents of Derna, reported hearing loud explosions, before they realized, dams outside the city had collapsed, unleashing flash floods down Wadi Derna that eventually crashed into the city.
“In effect, some 414mm of rain fell on the nearby town of Bayda, according to a local weather organization, which Sky News meteorologists described as a “huge amount of rainfall” that likely quickly ran off rather than soaked into the hard dry ground.”The rest is history of monumental destruction to human life and property.
As survivors of the tragic flood in Libya bemoan the loss of their loved ones and economic losses, and victims picking pieces of their lives amidst grief that grips the world, the pertinent question on the leaps of many Nigerians is to know what lesson Nigeria can learn from such calamity with a view to mitigating its occurrence .
Flood is grouped among the natural disasters tormenting humanity since the down civilization but an environmentalist, Mr. Desmond Majekodunmin, who spoke with News Central, a television outfit in Lagos on the issue also attributed the flood to the unfriendly human behavior towards the environment.
He expressed concern that rather than allow the environment to grow by God’s design, to make life comfortable, man has changed to tamper with the devine process in the ecosystem, thereby, boosting the rise in the occurrence of natural disasters, such as floods among others. According to him, the indiscriminate felling of trees, the careless way wastes are dumped in rivers, and water channels, the pollution of the environment, and the depletion of the burning of bushes and nuclear testing in the western world among others all have negative effects on environmental challenges confronting the people in many parts of the world.
As the world turns its light on Libya and Morocco with grief, and efforts being to make life bearable for the survivors again,Majekodunmi warned that the world is yet to see the rn dc of flood, adding that other parts of the globe might experience what the two nations passed through, unless people develop a positive attitude towards the environment. The effect of flood on man and his social and economic must have prompted
the Federal University, Lokoja, Kogi state in north-central Nigeria, to organize an international conference on how to mitigate floods in Nigeria some months in 2023.
At the occasion, academics and environmental experts in and beyond the shores of the country converged at the university to proffer lasting solution to flood challenges in Nigeria.
According to the communique, since flooding is universal, reflecting the broader challenges posed by climate change, there is.the need for deliberate efforts by the government to adopt a multi-pronged approach towards mitigating the menace.
This they urged could be through investment in resilient infrastructure such as building and maintaining robust drainage systems, creation of reservoirs, flood barriers, divergent structures, and implementing sustainable urban planning practices.
The communique added that flooding had negatively impacted on communities in the Niger-Benue, exemplified by the loss of human life, damage to properties, destruction of crops, loss of livestock, non-functioning of infrastructure, and deterioration of health conditions, owing to water-borne diseases, hence the need to check cannot be over emphasised.
The conference identified the effect of flooding to include other socio-economic impacts of flood such as decreased purchasing and production power, mass migration, psycho-sociological effect, limited economic growth and development, and low political participation, discontent, or loss of trust in authorities leading to social unrest.
The stakeholders further urged that floods in communities along the Niger-Benue Trough could be controlled through the construction of flood ways (man-made channels) to divert flood water, regular dredging of the inland waterways, channels, and rivers, construction of levees and dykes, sensitization, raising of roads to reduce run-offs and prevent water being diverted to homes at lower elevations and clearing of drainage;
“Nigeria needs to have a development plan that adequately provides for flood disaster management.
The communique noted that challenges of flood risk in the Niger-Benue Trough and Nigeria are a result of inadequate flood control structures.
The participants agreed that the existing structure is either too old or weak to perform maximally and identified aging dams, inadequate dam monitoring and maintenance, and lack of flood risk awareness as some of the areas must focus attention on mitigating floods.
The communique also itemized inadequate solid waste, sewage, drainage, and flood zone management; lack of integrated water resources planning at national and state levels and other factors, which if solved, could effectively check flood in the country.
“There is a need for improvement in collecting, assessing, and sharing environmental and climatic data for planning, policy, and investment purposes, including better coordination between MDAs;
“There is a need to ensure community participation in planning, implementation, and monitoring of disaster preparedness activities,” the participants also suggested to the government” the conference said.
The participants also called for the development of effective early warning on floods and dam water releases as well as a good knowledge of hydro-meteorological parameters which they described as germane to any flood management strategies in the Niger-Benue Trough;
“There is the need to build the capacity of communities and invest in institutions saddled with the responsibility of flood prevention, control, and management;
“There is a need to begin to build climate-smart infrastructure that is durable and sustainable such as dams, drainage and roads, review of the existing land use laws and an urgent need for preparation of a flood sensitive master plan.
“Land use planning should move beyond relying on national elements and incorporate a combination of structural and non-structural measures to reduce flood,” they also advised”, the participants added.
The communique noted that media literacy plays a critical role in enabling individuals to know, critically evaluate and interpret flood-related information to ensure a more informed understanding of risk and promote a responsible decision-making process and incorporation of media education into existing disaster preparedness plans.
The participants resolved that FUL, given its strategic location and willpower, shall establish a center for flood prevention and management in Nigeria, charged with the responsibility of leading innovation and intellectualism in the area of flood research.
They, therefore, called on the Federal Government to make or enhance annual budgetary provisions for flood control and management, to avert perennial flood disasters in the confluence city of Lokoja and other flood-prone areas of the country
All said and done, it is instructive to note that the reality of natural disasters in human existence is a fact man must live with as long as life exists.
However, since man is not a slave to his environment, compared to other living organisms, as the popular adage goes, environmental experts harp on the need for people to eschew acts capable of igniting natural disasters.
This is a big lesson Nigerians and residents of other climes must learn as least to effectively avert the two calamities that befell Morocco and Libya recently.
Dada Ahmed Publishes The Reporters, an online news media.
