• According to Dr. Stephen Jackson, 90 entities have come together, including the Kenya Red Cross and United Nations (UN) agencies but there is still a considerable coordination challenge as only 126,000 of nearly 300,000 victims have been reached.

The United Nations (UN) Resident Coordinator, Dr. Stephen Jackson, in an interview at Citizen TV on Wednesday, May 8, 2024, has urged the Government to improve disaster coordination, warning of a looming drought crisis. This follows the recent flooding disaster caused by the ongoing heavy rains from March this year.

“The harsh realities are the following; we know that emergency is going to pile on emergency and disaster is going to pile on disaster because of the climate change and the resources on the International level aren’t going to be enough,” he said.

This comes as Kenya continues to face one of the most catastrophic flooding events in recent years that has claimed over 200 lives and left more than 200,000 people displaced.

According to Dr. Stephen Jackson, 90 entities have come together, including the Kenya Red Cross and United Nations (UN) agencies but there is still a considerable coordination challenge as only 126,000 of nearly 300,000 victims have been reached.

The flooding has destroyed homes and turned roads into waterways, making residents homeless and roads impassable. The National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) and other Government agencies have been inspecting areas along rivers and pegging riparian zones. The Government has also demolished settlements around Nairobi.

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He emphasized that it is critical to get the National Disaster Management Bill, which seeks to overhaul the country’s architecture for emergencies and long-term response.

County governments have disaster response teams, and annual funding is allocated for disaster prevention. Though budgetary allocations have increased over the years, resources are often insufficient, prompting the Government to resort to donor funding or re-allocate funds from other projects to cover disasters.

He warned of bad news if the coordination issue in the country was not adequately addressed, stressing on the need to maximize resources and invest in disaster risk reduction.