NEMA urges people to plant trees near houses

The National Emergency Management Agency, (NEMA) has urged Nigerians to imbibe the culture of planting trees near their houses as part of measures to reduce the effects of windstorm.

Mr Kayode Fagbemi, the Director, Relief and Rehabilitation, NEMA, gave the advice this on Wednesday in Katsina while speaking with journalists.

It was reported that Fagbemi was in Katsina to assess the extent of damage made by the recent windstorm in many parts of the state.

He said that the advice became imperative in view of the increase in the intensity of disasters in the country in recent times.

‘’The disaster that happened around are human induced, we know that there is climate change and global warming.

‘’But what are we doing with our vegetation, we are cutting down the trees for firewood and the rest.

‘’These trees have been serving as wind breakers for many years, now they have been cut down, nothing to reduce the magnitude of windstorm.

‘’We must encourage people to plant trees around their houses.

“We must not continue to cut down trees, look at the speed at which the wind is coming, if there are trees, they will reduce the speed before coming to our communities.

‘‘In most of the places affected with the windstorm that we visited, there are no trees around,’’ he said.

He urged the media to continue to educate people on the importance of planting trees and the dangers associated with cutting down of trees in the environment.

‘’People are poor and when disaster comes, they become poorer and it takes long time before things become normal.’’

Fagbemi said that NEMA would continue to work with state governments to check disaster risk activities.

It was reported that windstorm affected thousands of people in the state where some people lost their lives and property worth N2.3 billion destroyed.

President Muhammadu Buhari has visited the state and commiserated with victims of the disaster.