Abuja - The Director-General of the National
Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Muhammad
Sani Sidi, has called on experts in the construction
sector to cater for the needs of the disabled in the
designing and building of structures.
Sidi also urged members of the public to provide
necessary support to the disabled during emergencies.
“We need to remind our planners and builders that
wheelchair access is needed for evacuation and there is
a need to include this in their designs and buildings,” he
said in Abuja during the 2013 International Day for
Disaster Risk Reduction celebration.
The event was held under the theme, “Living with
Disability and Disaster.”
Sidi said the theme explained the reason for
collaboration in the fight against the risk and impacts of
disaster on the vulnerable in communities.
Sidi expressed concern that most people did not
consider the plight of their physically and mentally-
challenged counterparts during disasters.
The NEMA leader also reminded the public that
including people living with disabilities in disaster risk
reduction efforts had the potential to contribute to
community-wide human development.
Sidi maintained that persons living with disabilities
were among the most excluded in society, adding that
their difficulties usually increased when disaster struck.
He highlighted that the United Nations had selected the
annual celebration for the promotion of disaster risk
reduction activities in order to encourage people and
governments to participate in the building of more
conducive communities.
“People living with disabilities must be seen not as
passive recipients of humanitarian care, but as equal
participants in disaster risk reduction,” he said.
– CAJ News