By Lekereni Chinkhota

Salima, August 18, Mana: Balaka and Salima District Councils Civil Protection Committees on Friday exchanged ideas on best practices to be followed on early warning systems as a way of protecting lives and property from floods.

Speaking during a learning visit in Salima, Balaka Disaster Risk Management Officer, Blessings Kantema, said the meeting would benefit both districts to mitigate effects of disasters among the communities through installation of proper gadgets to warn the vulnerable areas on time.

“The meeting has been fruitful for we have shared many interventions being implemented in the two districts regarding early warning systems.

“We have also learnt new interventions [from Salima] that we will replicate when proper assessment is made," he said.

 Kantema further said Balaka would install proper gadgets and adopt different systems that Salima is currently using to warn vulnerable areas in his district.

On his part, Salima Water Monitoring Assistant, Owen Wisikisi, stated that Salima District uses data acquisition units up-stream to send information of a possible disaster to data uploading unit located at a nearby place.

"The information is sent to a caretaker’s house to distribute the information down-stream. The down-stream attendant triggers a siren that gives people information to take precaution of possible disaster," he explained.

He added that having early warning systems functioning in districts will save lives because people will be given proper messages and this will alert them.

“The meeting will bring a great change on our knowledge on early warning system strategies to make sure that we are successful. Salima and Balaka share similar disasters, floods and heavy winds, so, sharing what is being done in one district to help another is pertinent,” he said.

According to Wisikisi, Salima has thrived different disasters because of good coordination that exists among caretakers of the gadgets used for warning systems such as river line alliance, village civil protection committees and area civil protection committees.

The Department of Disaster Management Affairs (DoDMA) in collaboration with different stakeholders is spearheading installation of early warning system gadgets in disaster-prone areas.