By- Aruna Rashed Toma Bangura        

The Catholic Relief Services and the National Disaster Management Agency have on past Wednesday 22nd March, 2023 at the Bintumani Hotel Conference Hall in Freetown, Aberdeen, developed and launched seven comprehensive tool kits towards preparing for enhanced protection in disasters.

The seven comprehensive toolkits was launched during a National Dialogue and Closeout of the project to propagate the final version of the PrEPD toolkits to Disaster Risk Reduction actors in discussing the processes involved in testing the toolkits and how to be applied by different DRR actors.

According to the project overview, most communities in Freetown are prone to natural hazards such as floods, landslides, tropical storms, coastal erosion, fire, smoke pollution from dumpsite and epidemics. These events have caused severe economic damage and loss of lives with disproportionate effects on the poorest and most vulnerable. The most frequently disturbing disasters are floodings and major fire disasters that occur every year within slum communities particularly Cockle Bay and Kolley Town communities.

Giving his keynote address, the Deputy Director General of the National Disaster Management Agency, John V. Rogers said the seven comprehensive toolkits were developed and actualized by the Catholic Relief Services. He commended the Catholic Relief Services for addressing vulnerability, risk and management.

John V. Rogers furthered that Sierra Leone is faced plethora of disasters including flood, fire, climate change and erosion, adding that the Catholic Relief Services is making sure that they face with first trajectory.

He said the country has been hit with four major disasters with 7,000 people got displaced during the August 14th landslide and flash flood, Ebola affected 8,800 while 4,000 people died and 134 people affected by the Wellington fire disaster and over 700 got homeless during the September 16,2015 flooding.

He stated that communities are faced with threat of disaster and CRS is making sure to reduce disaster through established structures, adding that efforts have been made to develop national hazard profile as these are indication of the National Disaster Management Agency and the Catholic Relief Services constructive engagement.

John V. Rogers said the twin disasters brought a new trajectory of disaster management as a paradigm shift call for development of new policies. He said communities are faced with threat of disaster on a day to day basis and they must work towards effective management and ensure to give a requisite, adding that the document to be launched will make meaningful use of the tool kit and therefore called on all and sundry to work collaboratively towards disaster management and response.

In her keynote address, the country representative for the Catholic Relief Services, Jeanne Ella Andrianambinina said they have been providing support to the government of Sierra Leone and local communities and have been around for over 60 years, adding that they are contributing in education, health, water and many other sectors and have now included the PrEPD project to help raise disaster awareness in the country.

She said the project will strengthen local capacity to develop protection in disaster risk reduction and reinforce protection of vulnerable groups including children, the aged and people living with disability. She said that CRS is a humanitarian organization that has the mandate to support development but said they do it in a distinct way so that it will not be harmful to those that they are targeting.

In his power point presentation on the strategic objectives, implementation and overview of the seven comprehensive tool kits, the Programme Manager at Disaster Risk Reduction of the Catholic Relief Services, Hassan John Sapateh said to ensure local disaster risk reduction, Catholic Relief Services has developed and completed a 1year 6months global “Prepared for Enhanced Protection in Disaster Project” which he said will boost local capacity to integrate the protection of disaster risk reduction, preparedness and response. He said that the seven comprehensive tool kits will be used to guide humanitarian and DRR actors to mainstream protection and accountability in disaster response preparedness.

He disclosed that $175,000 was granted to the DRR management team as support by USAID Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance in designing the toolkits to enhance disaster readiness and implementation in Sierra Leone.

The Director of Centre for Dialogue on Human Settlement and Poverty Alleviation (CODOSAPA) Francis Anthony Reffell said their organization is a slum dwellers Federation and they are a member of the slum dwellers international global network, adding that their organization provides technical support to their partner and take the lead on financial resource mobilization. He said their Federation includes vulnerable women, children, men and youth as the Federation mobilized around dynamic saving schemes and they are network at settlement city and at national level.

The representative from the Ministry of Gender who doubles as the Senior Protection Officer, Foday Mohamed Sesay said the Gender ministry is the national machinery machinery charged with the mandate of ensuring that laws, policies that protect and promote women, adding that the ministry have the guiding principles to ensure that thay do no harm and continue to promote the visible in promoting non-discriminatory services and show that protect the vulnerable especially during disasters.

In her closing remarks, the Urban Resilient Director for the Catholic Relief Services, Kareen Zabow said that success is a journey not a destination.”We must reach our destiny,” she said, adding that the Disaster Risk Response Management team did an excellent, a deliberate and comprehensive input. She said community structures have been framed, new partner created with accountability in disaster preparedness.