The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has said that increasing disaster rate at the grass roots in the North Central zone of the country calls for an effective synergy between its organs at the state and local government levels.

Speaking at the opening of a two-day workshop on awareness and preparedness on disaster management at the local and state government levels in Ilorin, Director-General of the agency, Alhaji Muhammad Sidi, said the move became imperative due to the strategic importance of local governments.

Sidi, who was represented at the event by the coordinator of the agency's Abuja Operations Office, Mr Ishaya Chonoko, said there was also a need for a review of strategies and involvement of personnel.

He said local governments, being the closest to the communities, were first responders to disasters, hence the need to empower their personnel for effective disaster management.

"Every disaster that occurs whether big or small, whether it involves a member of the legislature, judiciary and executive at the federal or state level, happens in a community in a local government area.

"It, therefore, behoves on the local government and the people of the local government to bear the immediate brunt of a disaster. This is because they are in most cases the first to be affected by the disaster as well as the first responders.

"Though they seem to be the least important level of government, they have a peculiar role to play in disaster management, since they are closest to the people at the grass roots. The degree of the impact, as well as the damage caused by a disaster, depends on the vulnerability and level of preparedness of the local government, meaning that if a local government is well prepared for any disaster situation, it would be able to bounce back to its prior state before the occurrence of the disaster.

"It is believed that this workshop would help to enlighten and empower the local governments in the management of disasters at the local level, as well as create a better synergy between the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) and the Local Emergency Management Agency (LEMA)," Chonoko said .