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Growing up, the only place I would watch and hear about stories of natural disasters was on Al Jazeera news. The images of how people's houses and properties were destroyed left a lasting impression on my young mind. I remember how I would often wonder what really triggered these disasters. I always feel pity watching how families were forced to flee from a place they once called home. Watching how a lot of people in different refugee camps were totally relying on government or NGOs for survival was heart-wrenching. Some of the children that were shown looked malnourished and sick.
As I grew older and also learned from my geography classes in secondary school, I realized that some natural disasters were not just random events that happened on their own; they were often caused by human actions such as climate change, poor infrastructure, and lack of preparedness.
In my country, the most common natural disasters are floods, and in the past few years we have experienced many instances of floods happening in several parts of the country. The one I heard of, which happened not long ago, was in Mokwa, a community in Niger State that was caused by a heavy rainfall that destroyed over four thousand homes and killed hundreds of people, while some were left injured and some missing; it was really sad hearing it in the news.
I have experienced incidences of floods in my city where I grew up and currently reside, but I was lucky enough that it did not get to my residential area. This usually happens during the rainy season and mostly when those small rivers or streams get filled up with water and overflow their banks.
Another reason is when dams get filled up and they are opened to reduce the water, the force of the water being let out results in a flood. This was precisely what happened in a few cities some time ago. While the government might give excuses that they made an announcement of some places that are flood-prone and as such had a very high chance of experiencing the same. I would say that it is not enough to make this announcement; adequate pre-flood provision(s) should be made to help the victims get out of there and get back on their feet with little or no adverse consequence.
We also need a drainage system in the country, and there should be a way of maintaining those drainage systems. The few places that have drainage systems are not being maintained well, so there's usually a lot of dirt in them, so water has a harder time flowing through them because of how they have been blocked.
Images are ai generated
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