The Kebbi State Emergency Management Agency ( SEMA ) says it recorded 16 deaths from 140 destroyed residential houses in 2017.
The Executive Director of the agency, Alhaji Abbas Kamba, made this known in an interview in Birnin Kebbi on Thursday.
Kamba said the data on the loss of houses was obtained from the state Fire Service Department, stressing that fire incidents also resulted in the loss of property worth billions of Naira during the period under review.
He said the agency also recorded incidents of destructive windstorm at Maiyama, Gwandu, Aliero and Birnin Kebbi Local Government Areas where 90 per cent of the residential houses were destroyed while many people were injured.
Kamba revealed that many lives and properties were lost on daily basis due to road crashes in the state.
โIn 2017, record shows that 46 crashes involving 41 commercial and 25 private vehicles led to the death of 55 people and 216 people injured during the period,โ he said.
According to him, flood also destroyed many residential properties in Birnin Kebbi, Jega, Aliero, Bagudo and Dandi Local Government Areas of the state.
โCanoe and boat accidents along Dole Kaina and Yauri waterways also led to loss of lives and property in 2017,โ Kamba said.
He said the agency collaborated with the National Orientation Agency ( NOA ) to sensitise residents on how to handle inflammable materials during harmatan period across the state in order to reduce fire incidents.
โWe organised sensitisation workshop involving road managers and road users to reduce road crashes; we developed strategies on migrants and migration issues in the state; trained grass root emergency volunteer groups and traditional rulers on emergency issues, among other measures,โ he said.
The executive director said the agency would map out proactive strategies in 2018 to reduce loss of property and lives through disasters.
