In what it called an effort to efficient its work in managing disaster across the country, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has established a functional Geographic Information System (GIS) lab for Early Warning for disaster responses.
The Director General of the Agency AVM Muhammad Audu-Bida made the statement yesterday at the first 2009 Ministerial Press Briefing in collaboration with Federal Ministry of Information and Communications.
He said, the lab is one of the significant facilities of the agency for its disaster risk reduction programme, saying it would collects special data on disaster, analyses and prepares useful information that would helps to aid responses to disaster. The DG said hitherto, disaster management in Nigeria was mainly humanitarian relief supplies with huge funds expended anually.
Among other things the agency adopted for coordinating disaster management, according to him included Mission Control Centre (MCC), which is a computer based satellite technology that uses what he called the “COSPAS-SARSAT hi-tech system”. This system, he said is designed to pick distress alerts and location data to assist in Search and Rescue Operation (SRO), by using satellite and ground facilities to detect and locate the signals of distress beacons operating on 406MHz.
Audu-Bida added, the MCC which is located in the NEMA headquarter would alert the nearest Rescue Coordinating Centre (RCC) or the Disaster Response Units of the Army, Air Force, and the Navy for immediate action when there is a distress alert from the beacon located on the ship or aircraft.
