Nairobi County to boosts city's water-related disaster response with divers training
Last October, the Disaster Management and Coordination Chief Officer had said that the administration would be prepared in all ways to face the rains.
Nairobi County now turns to train divers to boost their rescue services in case of flood-related emergencies.
In an interview with The Eastleigh Voice, Bramwell Simiyu the Chief Officer, Disaster Management and Coordination revealed that a team of 15 men and women are being trained at the coast.
"They are being trained by the Mombasa County Government and its water rescue unit to improve our game so that we can effectively respond to water and flood-related emergencies," he said.
The chief officer revealed that the training would take between three weeks to six months.
As of April 30, 2024, at least 16 people had died as a result of the ravaging floods in Nairobi.
The heavy rains have so far affected 60,000 residents, where 13,000 sought refuge in the camps set up by the county government.
Going further, the Chief Officer pointed out that recent floods served as validation for his previously misunderstood proposal when he suggested that the county needed to procure water rafts in preparation for El Niño and heavy rainfall.
Simiyu noted that the need for such rafts was evident during the recent floods when the Kenya Red Cross used boats in some affected estates to rescue stranded Kenyans.
Last October, the Chief Officer had said that the administration would be prepared in all ways to face the rains.
"When El Nino happens we must have ambulances, fire engines, boats, and inflatable rafts," he said during an interview with NTV.
"Boats and inflatable rafts are part of what we are planning as a department even to procure during the next couple of weeks."
Simiyu argued then that the boats would help the team access flooded areas.
However, he received backlash on social media with people asking why the Johnson Sakaja-led administration needed to purchase boats.
At the same time, City Hall has defended the qualifications of its disaster management and coordination staff amid public criticism.
The chief officer of the sector explained that having a postgraduate degree or any other qualification doesn't mean a person can't apply for a job in the rescue team.
Simiyu clarified that it's not just education levels that determine someone's ability to handle emergencies.
He noted that such criticism undermines the team's efforts in handling up to five cases of fire and other emergencies in Nairobi County.
Additionally, he mentioned that regardless of their qualifications, successful candidates typically receive thorough training to prepare them for handling emergencies effectively.
"Being a paramilitary service means that you take on board members of the public who come with different skills and qualifications. They have no previous training in firefighting," Simiyu said.
Similar to the police, the Chief Officer said the Nairobi County Rescue Team usually undergoes six months of professional training in firefighting to qualify as firefighters.
"It does not mean that when you join a fire service, having any form of degree is an advantage because you are taken through the six months of training, just like the police recruits are taken through the training at Kiganjo to become qualified police officers and in our case to become firefighters. There is absolutely nothing wrong with someone having a degree in another field," he added.
Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna had raised concerns about the education qualifications of some of the staff employed by Governor Johnson Sakaja.
Sifuna said he has been investigating the challenges experienced by the Nairobi County disaster team.
According to the Senator, one of the issues is a mismatch between education qualifications and employment, with some individuals employed for positions they did not study at university.
"In my quest to understand where exactly the problem is with disaster response in Nairobi, be it fire incidents or rescue I'm learning that there is a serious mismatch of qualifications and roles hindering those qualified from actually performing their duties," he said.
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