El nino:our role in mitigating hazards

By Simon J. Mone

Looks like severe rains have returned, one that might yet show an ugly face. With it is expected to come all sorts of permutations.

Amongst the inconveniences will include the usual filled up drainages, muddy access roads and violent storms. Ones that are capable of blowing away poorly fitted iron sheets from over your head when you are deep into your snore at midnight.

What all these tell us is to stay alert and find ways of dealing with the bad ‘little boy’ called El Niño. And develop adequate matrices to ensure that we stay clear of the disaster. Therefore, we all have a role to play in order to be safe and avoid being washed down the sewers.

So what is it that each of us must do to mitigate the El Niño effects? Most times, the tendency is to think that some local leader in our midst holds the master key to unlocking these hazards. Do clean up of the area, de-silt blocked drains. Yet we all must join efforts. As communities, we can help by doing some clever things. To begin with, our settlement habits are awful.

We have homed ourselves in wetlands and low-lying areas. This has increased the likelihood of our houses and livelihoods being submerged in storm water. We have placed concrete on the water path. It has not helped, because infiltration of storm water is now difficult. Water now stagnates in our compounds and surrounding areas, creating a habitat for other things, which will definitely cause some problems.

Our main responsibility is to put shelter well above low points of the ground profile. Leave wetlands, swamps and running water ways to do their natural job. The second clever thing to do is, ensure that our houses are of sound structural integrity. It means that they must be checked, inspected and approved to withstand bad weather hazards. El Niño is one of them.

If they are not properly engineered, then we have failed on this responsibility. Such houses will give way during heavy rains. Third is how we deal with solid waste. Ensure that current practice of disposing solid waste in drainage channels is stopped. It blocks running water. And this forces water to into houses. Instead, harvest and store the excess water. It can be useful during the dry period, when there is hardly any water to irrigate the kitchen garden.

While communities have their role to play, authorities have equally important roles to perform. So the fourth role is for authorities to properly grade and camber all roads. Provide good drainage to ensure that storm water runs to the road side in the shortest time possible. It keeps roads clear of mud and allows proper road usage. Authorities should not approve construction of structures in wetlands and low-lying areas. Everybody must stay faithful to regulations and avoid running into trouble when demolition jobs.

See! Do your part and let government take up its role to ensure that flood disasters are well firmly under control. Fifth, an efficient public transport would solve congestion problems. All eyes will be on authorities. It would encourage everyone to take public transport to work.

A congested leaves impedes traffic, especially after heavy rains. Sixth, refrain from constructing pit latrines in low-lying area, and disposing human waste in the open. It is clear that this causes contamination of water sources that people fetch. It also attracts water-borne diseases; cholera and typhoid, which are not new to us.

City and town authorities must collect garbage promptly. This will ensure that garbage don’t decompose and produce leachates that are an environmental hazard to communities. Put down your guard and the little Spanish boy will come to haunt you.

The writer is a Civil Engineer