The youth are vital in leveraging technology to detect hazards, manage risks and suggest early mitigation strategies to minimize loss of life and property during disasters, the Kenya Red Cross has said.
The Manager of Disaster Risk Reduction at Red Cross, Peter Murgor, added that the government and education stakeholders have to also invest in their education on climate change and environmental conservation.
Speaking during the10th National Symposium for Disaster Risk Reduction themed, ‘The Role of Education in Protecting and Empowering Youth for a Disaster-Free Future’ at a Kilifi hotel, Murgor said that the meet’s objective was to evaluate and suggest policies to combat disasters through youth engagement.
Murgor said that at times disasters and corresponding responses end up creating conflicts among communities due to issues such as land ownership.
He cited the current ethnic tensions in the Madogo area of Tana River county where two ethnic communities are wrangling over an alleged settlement plan for victims of floods in the area.
“Land ownership is a key factor if people are to be moved from low lying areas to safer grounds for both the victims and residents of the land they are being settles at,” he said.
National Disaster Operation Center (NDOC) official Gordon Muga said that the country was in a good position as far as disaster response and mitigation was concerned saying that policies are in place in addition to frameworks on resource allocation.
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Muga said that the youth are crucial in creating awareness among their peers and have to be involved in disaster management campaigns.
“70 percent of our population are youth and we can use their energy as agents of change as they are well endowed with education and a better technological capacity,” he said.
Kilifi County Executive Committee Member (CECM) for Sports, Culture and Disaster Management, Dr. Ruth Dama, said that the county had implemented robust disaster management frameworks to reduce negative effects of disasters.
“Kilifi is on another level because we have been able to take care of our beach and river spaces. We have also contracted quick responders to deal with disasters along the areas after we lost lives during flash floods recently,” she said.
She added that through collaboration with other agencies, they had started engaging with local communities at the grassroots by forming disaster and risk management committees at the ward level.
Dr. Dama decried the loss of lives at the Kilifi bridge through suicide and called on stakeholder engagement to help prevent such cases noting that in under a year, 58 people had lost their lives.
By Nehemiah Okwembah
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