Kenya not prepared for tsunami tragedy: official

Kenya still needs to do more to equip itself for a tsunami disaster, the Meteorological Department assistant director Peter Macharia has said.

Speaking after conducting a tsunami preparedness drill at Shelly Beach in Likoni, Mombasa County, he said tsunamis should be treated with a lot of seriousness. 

“We cannot say we are prepared and we have come to this exercise with a lot of gaps that we need to fill as a nation,” Mr Macharia said.

He noted that following the 2004 tsunami incident that affected Indonesia, Kenya, Somalia and Tanzania among other Indian Ocean ring countries, there was need to have mitigation measures to secure the residents.

Mombasa County Commissioner Evans Achoki who doubles up as the county Disaster management chairman said the drill involved 100 police officers, 150 volunteer workers from the Kenya Red cross, St John’s Ambulance, local community, key stakeholders from Kenya Ports Authority, Kenya Maritime Authority, Meteorological department and the Mombasa County Government among others.

“We have all key agencies that are involved in disasters in the county. We need to continuously prepare for any eventualities. We are here to test the response to disaster,’’ Mr Achoki said.

He encouraged the residents to also be aware of how to respond in case a warning or an alarm is sounded.

“Our first hospitals were Likoni, Aga Khan and Coast Provincial General hospital which confirmed receiving casualties. We had also alerted the Kenya Ferry who had a stand-by ferry and this has made the drill a success,” the County commissioner said.

Mr Achoki commended the teams for the good coordination and urged residents to be on alert.

“We have had very meaningful interactions with the beach operators and divers who have told us their needs and we want to see how we can assist them as first responders to effectively assist Kenyans whenever a disaster strikes,” Mr Achoki said.

Mr Macharia told the residents to be keen on some of the signals and indicators of tsunamis like sudden water disappearance and change animal behaviour especially dogs.

He challenged the county governments especially those at the coastline to replicate the drill in disaster preparedness and also have standard operating procedures.

Kenya Rescue Divers Association chairman Charles Odhiambo urged the government to create employment to youths and beach operators who mostly volunteer as lifesavers.

“We will always be prepared if we were employed, but what the government does is wait till some disaster strikes then we are called upon to volunteer our services for peanuts,’’ he said.