FG moves to mitigate impact of natural disasters

The Federal Government has commissioned a national seismic monitoring station-5 in Katampe, in Abuja, to boost the nation’s preparedness to mitigate the impact of natural disasters.

Commissioning the project on Tuesday, Dele Alake, the minister of solid minerals development, said the project was evidence of the government’s readiness to make requisite resources available for the expansion of facilities across the country.

Alake, who lauded the Nigeria Geological Survey Agency (NGSA) for establishing the fifth monitoring station, said, “We intend to pursue the policy of making the necessary resources available to the agency to have these stations in other parts of the country.

“Nature cannot be second-guessed, neither can we predetermine with scientific exactitude when natural disasters will occur, but we can estimate when such incidence will occur and that will assist the nation in making contingency arrangements to mitigate the adverse effect of such disasters on the populace.”

According to the minister, the facility is a show of the present administration’s commitment to safeguarding lives and properties and ensuring the well-being of citizens.

Abdulrasak Garba, the director-general of NGSA, said with the equipment in the Katampe station, the agency can now categorise movement and levels of tremors which would enable it to alert relevant disaster management agencies about the potential of having a certain magnitude of earth tremors or earthquakes in Abuja and some parts of the country.

“Although Nigeria is not in an area that is susceptible to earthquakes, nevertheless, recent tremors in parts of the country show that there is a potential for Nigeria to have earthquakes.

“There have been incidences of low seismicity in parts of the country like Mpape, Maitama in Abuja; some parts of Kwara, Kaduna, and Saki in Oyo State. Therefore, the need to establish a network of active seismic monitoring stations to bolster our nation’s preparedness to manage any impending disaster cannot be overemphasised,” Abdulrasak added.

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