The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has deployed its personnel on 24-hour patrol in major roads within South-East to enable it to attend to emergencies.
Mr Brandon Walson, the South-East Zonal Co-ordinator of NEMA, said this while inaugurating the agency’s ‘‘2017 Operation Eagle-Eye’’ in Enugu on Saturday.
Walson said that the agency would deploy four teams with four rescue vehicles on critical road corridors in the zone.
He said that the vehicles to be deployed would include two ambulances, an emergency response Hilux and a Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU) vehicle.
He identified the roads two be patrolled as the Enugu-Onitsha Road; Enugu-Port Harcourt Road; Enugu-Abakaliki Road and Enugu-Nsukka-Obollo Afor Road.
‘‘We are working closely with the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in this operation. Operation Eagle-Eye is meant and designed to assist the FRSC.
‘‘Through the operation, we share and collate data about movement and development on the roads together with FRSC personnel,’’ he said.
The NEMA boss noted that the agency would also use the period to sensitise members of the public to the need to prevent disasters, whether natural or man-made.
‘‘We educate members of the public as well as share to them our information leaflets on disaster reduction and how best to be pro-active to reduce losses during disasters,’’ he said.
Walson, who revealed that the operation would last about two weeks, said: ‘‘it will be starting today (Dec. 23) and will end on Jan. 4, 2018.’’
Earlier, Mr Edward Zamber, the FRSC Sector Commander in Enugu State, had lauded the NEMA and FRSC officials for the sustained co-operation and synergy between the two agencies over the years.
Zamber added that the cloae collaboration between the two agencies would ensure that roads in the zone were made more secure.