From Ahmed Kaigama, Bauchi
Nine pregnant women have so far given birth, including twins at the Internally Displays Persons Camp in Gombe state, following the sacking of people of Damboa Local Government Area of Borno state by insurgents It was gathered that the nine pregnant women were among the over the 1,624 displayed persons from Damboa LGA who have been taking refuge in a newly built Police quarters in Gombe state for about two weeks now.
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA)’s Senior Relief and Rehabilitation Officer (SRRO), Ali Kadiri Moses disclosed this to newsmen in Bauchi, shortly after he delivered a paper, titled,
“Emergency evacuation and mass sheltering for communities prone to flood and related disasters”, at a workshop, organised by Gombe state, NEMA Operation Office, yesterday, saying that “there are a lot of pregnant women in the camp. I’m particular about a woman who gave birth to twin and eight other women that gave birth also in the camp and all the babies are doing well.”
According to him, NEMA is adequately taking care of the babies, nursing mothers and Internally Displayed Persons (IDPs).
He regretted that the number of the IDPs keeps increasing on a daily basis and as a result, NEMA is challenged in terms of ascertaining the figure of the IDPs and to even plan for their daily feeding.
Moses said, “At the moment, I cannot be very specific about the number of IDPs; but about weeks ago, we have 1,624 on our list but from that time to now they keep coming into the camp and we are taking good care of them.”
He applauded the Gombe state government for providing the newly built Police quarters where NEMA camping the IDPs but decried inadequate of teachers and appealed to qualified persons to come to the aid of pupils.
While speaking at the stakeholders meeting the acting Head of Operation, Zainab Umar Ali sued for harmony, cooperation and effective coordination among stakeholders in disaster management both of the government and non-government humanitarian organisation.
Also speaking the Senior Operation Officer Alhaji Sa’idu Inusa, in a paper, titled: “Safety Measures and Mass Causality Handling at Scenes of Bomb Explosion”, said in case of bomb blast people who rush in render are exposed to a lot risk and hazards at the scenes such as secondary explosions, unstable and falling materials, flying objects, contaminated air and water, smoke and fire, heavy light, and excessive noise and dust.
