Over thirty people, who had been invited to plan how Uganda should respond to emergencies such as the 2010 landslides in Bududa district, did not show up for the workshop.
The United States Africa Command based in Stuttgart, Germany, are facilitating the five day Uganda National Emergency Development workshop at Speke Resort in Munyonyo.
Uganda is largely lacking in disaster management and the officers attending the workshop are supposed to work as emergency managers. In-case there is an emergency it’s these officers who are supposed to design the response.
Though the organizers put the number of invited participants to 80 about half of the number did not show up for the workshop and their cards remained uncollected at the registration desk.
Lorraine Rapp, the Disaster Preparedness Program Manager, however, downplayed the attendance issue saying some of the invited persons might have had engagements. But the poor attendance caught the eye of other facilitators at the emergency workshop who complained while perusing the attendance list.
Those in attendance included the Uganda Police Force, Uganda Red Cross, Uganda Revenue Authority, Uganda Peoples Defense Forces, representatives from government ministries and the Prime Minister’s Office among others.
The workshop follows a review conducted three months ago by the United States Africa Command that assessed Uganda’s readiness to handle emergencies.
Rapp credited Uganda for coming up with a disaster policy but acknowledged the fact that all the efforts were not working together. She said Uganda has all there is for emergency response like equipment but need collaboration.
Rapp said Uganda’s roadmap would ensure there is coordination and collaboration.
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Rapp notes that unless this is done an emergency may degenerate into a disaster leading to loss of life. She says there must be anticipation of an emergency which requires that departments are working together before the emergency.
The working groups have mapped out emergency response areas such as the landslides around Mt. Elgon and are now using the outcome of the review to come up with a roadmap.
The review conducted by the United States Africa Command assessed Uganda’s preparedness for emergencies in seven areas that included Administration, Finance and Legal, Logistics and Infrastructure, Security and Military coordination, Operations and Planning , National Disaster Medical system, Medication, and Preparedness and Training.
