Floods start next month

Sep 17, 2009

THE Government has begun emergency preparations ahead of the destructive El-Nino rains expected to start next month.

By Anne Mugisa

THE Government has begun emergency preparations ahead of the destructive El-Nino rains expected to start next month.

The ministries of health, works and education are to make advance deliveries of emergency materials to areas most likely to be hardest hit, disaster preparedness minister Prof. Tarsis Kabwegyere said yesterday.

He said the emergency items include bailey bridges, inflatable boats, first-line drugs and emergency learning centres.

Although the whole country will be affected by the El-Nino, the areas likely to be worst affected include the Teso region, Manafwa, Bundibugyo and the stretch between Hoima and Masindi districts.

Kabwegyere told journalists that a national task force on El-Nino has been formed in the Office of the Prime Minister, adding that it meets bi-weekly to chart out strategies. He also said the technical working group meets monthly.

Seven ministries and three government agencies have been tasked to submit contingency plans to the Prime Minister’s office.

The ministries are health, education and sports, water and environment, defence, internal affairs, agriculture, animal industry and fisheries, energy and mineral development, local government and that of works and transport.

The three agencies are the National Environment Management Authority, National Roads Authority and the Directorate of Water Development.

The El-Nino phenomenon causes abnormal weather patterns characterised by heavy rains and floods.

The El-Nino rains last occurred in Uganda in 2007, destroying crops and lives and disrupting social lives.

The meteorology department has indicated that the El-Nino is expected between October to December and may spread to the usually dry months of January and February 2010.

After the El-Nino, there will be the reverse conditions referred to as La-Nina, characterised by drought.

Kabwegyere said this would lead to low crop yields and food shortages.

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