By Alex Byakatonda
apearlnews.com
The Office of the Prime Minister-OPM has donated equipment to Kabale
District Disaster Management Committee strengthen the district’s
preparedness for mitigation and response to disasters.
The equipment, which includes, a camera drone, a toll-free line, a
conference kit, a tablet, three megaphones, and a computer, were
purchased with funding from the United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP).
Handing over the equipment today at the district boardroom, the OPM
officials led by Jacqueline Kagoda, a Disaster Management Officer,
said that Kabale district is one of the selected ten disasters prone
districts in the country, that are benefiting from the 500,000 US
dollars project. The other beneficiary districts are Kasese, Bududa,
Amuru, Adjumani, Moroto, Kumi, Bukedea, Butaleja and Namayingo.
She said the equipment will help to enhance the district’s capacity to
contain and minimize the effects of disasters, prevent, mitigate and
prepare the district disaster coordination plan and timely response,
as well as bridging the communication gap between the district
emergency coordination center and National Emergency Coordination and
Operations Centre (NECOC). Stanley Osaba, an officer at NECOC in the
Disaster Department at the Office of the Prime Minister said that
there is a need for all district departments to adopt disaster risk
reduction and climate change adaptation into their planning for easy
mitigation.
The Kabale Resident District Commissioner, Godfrey Nyakahuma, and the
District LCV Vice-Chairperson, Miriam Akankwasa Tugume, who received
the equipment commended the Office of the Prime Minister, saying that
the equipment will help in accessing information about disasters that
hit any part of the district.
According to the National Policy for Disaster Preparedness and
Management, Uganda remains susceptible to highly devastating
disasters, including hydrological, geological, climatic and
human-induced that exert a significant toll on its population and
impose a significant socio-economic cost and which, to some extent,
affects the country’s ability to maximize the benefits from its
economic growth and social development.
Over the past decades, the
incidences of devastating disasters have increased in frequency,
the intensity and geographical spread.
