The Director General, National Emergency Management Agency, Habib Ahmed, has decried the dissemination of unguarded information about disasters that become a bane to efforts to prevent disasters.
Ahmed who cited reportage of the recent Lagos building collapse in the media, said, “It has become worrisome because most of these reports are not handed professionally especially in the social media that release news and information about disasters without caution”.
The NEMA DG, represented by the Head, NEMA Ekiti Operations Office, who spoke in Ado Ekiti during a one-day workshop for media practitioners with the theme, ‘The roles of the media in disaster management,’ said that the media owed it a responsibility to disseminate information on actions to be taken to prevent escalation when disasters happen.
He said, “Releasing information about a disaster is not a bad idea, but the reporter needs to think of the effect of such report on the audience and consideration of the fact that the victims have families. Such report without caution may cause a secondary disaster to the family members.”
“If such information is not properly managed, it can aggravate disasters and worsen the situation,” he said, urging the media “to focus more on disaster preventive measures as a way of sensitizing the populace on necessary things to prevent disaster in their environments or communities”.
