Nasratu Kargbo
World Food Programme’s Resident Coordinator Steve Nsubuga has called on commercial bike riders to champion road safety in the country, whilst addressing hundreds of people including bikers at the site of the fuel explosion in Wellington.
He said in the event of an accident, youths should go to help rather than gather around. “We should make’ okada’ riders champions of road safety”, he pointed out. He explained that the unfortunate incident of last Friday has happened in many African countries where people scoop leaking fuel, and asked that people learn from the incident.
Speaking on behalf of the UN family, Nsubuga highlighted that they have been working closely with the National Disaster Management Agency and Ministry of Health, and engaged the World Health Organization for the movement of medical supplies for treating burns. He assured the government and people of Sierra Leone of their support during difficult moment. He commended Sierra Leoneans for being resilient, stating that the environment where the incident happened is almost back to normalcy.
The Mayor of Freetown City Council, Yvonne Aki-Swayyer who was also present at the gathering stated: “Yesterday as we buried the dead we recognised that it was the 8th of November, one day after the 6th anniversary of the end of Ebola outbreak”. She explained that the victims were buried at the Gbolima Centre where Ebola and mMdslide victims were buried.
She stated that there should be a change in narrative, noting the country should make strides to improve on the systems in order to avoid such incidents.
The Deputy Director at the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) John spoke of how four fire engines came and were able to put the fire under control after two hours,by which time the damage had already occurred.
Speaking on challenges post disaster, he cited tracing family members of victims and dealing with the highly traumatised survivors, the Ministry of Social Welfare together with other MDAs would come in to help in that regard.
He called on the UN family to also help in any way they can, especially in de- traumatizing the victims. Some one hundred people died past Friday night when a tanker carrying petrol exploded killing people along the highway and a nearby street. The tanker was wasting petrol after a collision with another truck and people went about scooping the petrol when the explosion happened. About one hundred are in hospital, some with serious burns.
Copyright © Politico Online 10/11/21
