EDITORIAL: Agencies must prepare better for heavy rains

The weatherman has, since January, put out reports about the heavy rains expected between March and April in just about every part of the country.

There will be millions of people living in flood-prone lowlands, and it is our hope they will be moved before it becomes an emergency because it is no secret that the onset of the rains is with us and being forewarned is being forearmed.

The National Disaster Management Authority must take the earliest opportunity to send out warnings and alerts about the most-affected areas to save lives and property.

For a successful, well-resourced programme, a multi-agency approach will provide accurate and targeted outcomes better than the haphazard past in which agencies wait for politicians to lead the way while disaster experts are ignored because politicians want to be seen in the news in the hope it will boost their election or re-election prospects.

This is the time for county governments, county and sub-county administrators of every cadre to map out their zones and conduct a needs assessment.

Agencies in the national roads network should provide timely alerts about flooded roads or swept-away bridges.

Public health officers must be prepared for outbreaks of waterborne diseases and provide the provisions and information that would keep the public safe.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “The measure of success is not whether you have a tough problem to deal with, but whether it is the same problem you had last year.” —US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles was born on February 25, 1888