By: Nyima Sillah
Muhammed Hydara, Secretary-General of Gambia Environmental Alliance has said the Atlantic Hotel in Banjul could have been a better space to use to house the flood victims of Banjul.
In an exclusive interview with this medium, Hydara said: “We thought the Atlantic Hotel could have been used as a space for the flood victims because the school halls are not a good center. All the affected victims are combined together, mosquitoes and we are talking about the easy disease outbreak which might emerge due to the long run of the flood in the city.”
He stated that the National Disaster Management needs to make sure that they have evacuation centers where citizens could be put up.
He argued that giving disaster victims places like schools that don’t even belong to the government is a little bit not appropriate. “What might be the case if schools open in September and we are still in the rainy season? All those things will fall back to the government as well to the citizens,” he said.
He added that more of this should be put into consideration while people expect the Health Ministry to play a key role to keep flood victims from any health hazards.
Meanwhile, he added that after the rainy season it is important for another assessment to be done to make sure that the government or the respective council categorizes areas that are prone to flooding and looks for a sustainable mechanism to evacuate those people to another suitable area.