Storm Disaster at President Doors Step Shows Urgent Need for Emergency Response

DISASTER AND OTHER unforeseen circumstances including flood, storm, fire, etc are common everywhere in the world and this is why good and responsible governments put in place systems that will quickly deal with these kinds of events as they occur.

IN MANY COUNTRIES, response to disaster is fast and people at the peril of death are rescued as quickly as possible. Early warning system mechanisms are sometimes put in place and very functional to alert of any incoming danger.

IN LIBERIA THESE SYSTEMS are not in place and for some obvious reasons many would tend to say the country is not at the same advanced level as other western countries.

BUT THE SIMPLE ISSUE such as having in place a functional disaster management entity that will be in the position to go to the aid of people in distress in a timely manner does not require high technology.

A FEW YEARS AGO, a unit was established within the Ministry of Internal Affairs to respond to disaster situations but that unit is now perhaps dormant as nothing is heard of the unit whenever there is disaster.

THE LIBERIAN NATIONAL Red Cross has been helping during these difficult conditions for some Liberians but on many occasions, the Red Cross has to wait and look out for help before moving to help people in dying need.

IT IS KNOWN THAT TIME becomes of essence when people are really in need of help and sometimes delays for hours and even days result to untimely deaths and destruction.

THE GOVERNMENT KNOWS or should know that during the rainy season in the country more disasters take place with flood and storm mainly causing havoc for many.

AT LEAST THERE HAS been no rainy season in Liberia where the season had gone without flood displacing many people or storm violently bringing down many homes.

KNOWING THAT THIS is a yearly and seasonal occurrence, the Government should be in the position to prepare for such situations and put in place all the necessary mechanisms to quickly move to the aid of people affected at a particular time.

ON WEDNESDAY NIGHT, residents of a community right next door to the office of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf found themselves facing a terrible situation when storm hit and took away the roofs of several buildings.

LOCATED IN SUCH PLACE right near the President’s these people could not get any assistance during the entire Thursday, as despite staging protest on the main road to claim the attention of the President and senior government officials, they could not get the needed attention.

EVELYN CONSTANCE, A 48-year old mother of four children even took her crying to the office of the President, where she says she was prevented by security officers and asked to leave.

“I WENT THERE TO GIVE our complaints at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and they told me to wait because I was really crying and was soaking wet but later on when they heard the siren coming they told me to leave from the place and come to the house and wait so I asked them how can I wait when right now I am confused”, she explains.

DESPITE THESE EFFORTS the victims as of Thursday evening were yet to get any form of assistance. This speaks to how vulnerable Liberians are in terms of disaster and if such can take place right in Monrovia, people in the rural parts of the country are more at risk because if they are faced with similar situation, nobody will get to know their plight.

ONE OF VICTIM BLUNTLY puts it that the President while driving to work could not stop to talk to protesting victims who held placards on the main street.

“EVERYTHING SPOIL RIGHT now, I don’t know what to do. As God could have it, nobody got injured. We went on the road to appeal and we carried placards to meet with the president. We stood on the road because we heard the president was coming, at least for the president to come to our aid but she did not stop” Evelyn says.

THIS IS VERY TERRIBLE for Liberians and there is a need for government to see disaster management as a matter of urgency and importance and not politics and the usual Liberian way of doing things.