By Wallace Chipeta

Lilongwe, August 15, Mana: Department of Disaster Management Affairs (DoDMA) has said communication and civic education practitioners need to expedite educating the communities on contents of Disaster Risk Management (DRM) Act to save lives, property and infrastructure.

Director of Preparedness and Response in DODMA Rev. Moses Chimphepo said this at Lilongwe Hotel Wednesday during a daylong workshop on validation of key messages developed from DRM Act.

He indicated that the law was passed by Parliament in 2023 to provide for disaster preparedness, risk reduction, response and recovery and needs to reach out to the communities for them to be able to reduce risks in managing disasters.

Speaking on behalf of participants to the message validation workshop, Executive Director of Human Rights of Women and Girls with Disabilities, Stella Nkhonya asked DoDMA and other stakeholders to consider persons with disabilities when disseminating messages because they are vulnerable to disasters.

She advised communicators to monitor impact messages make on communities once dissemination is done.

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) sponsored the message validation workshop organized by DoDMA.