By Yemi Olakitan
The severe flooding that affected 29 of Nigeria’s 36 states since June 2022 has been dubbed the worst in at least 10 years.
The floods have directly impacted more than 2.8 million people, according to the most recent reports that have been made public.
Nearly 2 million people have been evacuated (or fled from) high-risk locations, and at least 603 people have died. Additionally, more than 2,500 people have been hurt.
In addition, 200,000 homes have either been fully destroyed or damaged, along with more than 266,000 acres of farmland.
Even if the rain may have stopped for the time being, the affected people still need a great deal of support and assistance to recover enough.
Approaching a Recovery Response
Humanitarian activities have switched from an emergency reaction to a recovery response since the floodwaters have subsided and there are no longer any immediate hazards.
Many of the fundamental requirements in the impacted communities are unchanged despite this change in strategy.
This covers the urgent need for a safe place to live, as well as for food, water, and sanitary facilities.
Additionally, there is still a significant demand for primary healthcare services and massive actions designed to stop future disease outbreaks.
The destruction of so much agriculture necessitates the implementation of policies to address food security and malnutrition.
International humanitarian organizations provide agricultural assistance including the replacement of resources like tools and seeds to lessen crop losses.
The enormous burden of determining and fixing the damage the flood water caused awaits those who are fortunate enough to return to their houses.
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Several factors will affect the degree of the flood damage and the amount of repairs needed.
Pooled water persisted in homes in certain regions of the nation long after the rain had stopped.
The top priority for thousands of families seeking to salvage their houses was to eliminate any remaining moisture.
Sadly, the more harm will be done, the longer a structure and its contents are wet.
As a result, a large quantity of saturated construction materials and personal items were damaged beyond repair.
Now is the time to prepare.
The government’s lack of preparation for the yearly floods is seen to be the main cause of this year’s terrible floods, while there are other contributing factors as well.
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) of Nigeria urged all pertinent stakeholders to act promptly to minimize specific climate conditions.
Unfortunately, despite numerous rivers and reservoirs overflowing, these pieces of advice were largely ignored across the nation.
In addition to the government’s lack of preparation, the floods were made worse by the discharge of extra water from Cameroon’s Lagdo Dam in the middle of September.
Nigeria still lacks a buffer dam, despite the fact that it has needed one to stop this powerful flow of water since the early 1980s.
In-depth planning and preparation must be started right now in order to stop the catastrophic circumstances of this year from happening again in the future.
The Nigerian floods of 2022 were the worst in more than ten years.
Adequate planning must be prioritized in order to reduce the possibility of further flooding of similar magnitude.
