Emergency management 2013
Emergency management 2013
The fire department of the Northern Bahr El-Ghazal state numbers 420 firefighters. Almost all of them used to fight in the guerilla warfare, and now, during the peace period, have been ordered to join the fire department. None of them or their commanders have had any firefighting training.
Improving skills of the Northern Bahr El-Ghazal fire department on how to react to floods and other natural disasters
Objectives
- Setting up a flood early warning system on the Lol River. Yearly floods on this river afflict about half a million people;
- Providing training and equipment to firefighting units to fight floods and fires and evacuate people from the affected areas.
Background and description of needs
South Sudan became independent in 2011 after 23 years of the civil war and 6 years of a transitional period when it had a significant autonomy within the borders of Sudan. The country is terribly damaged by the prolonged civil war that hindered any development actions and movements in the last three decades. Only now, the country is building the most important road network but investments such as power plants and transmission network are the matter of the next few decades.
At the same time, the government of the Republic of South Sudan continuously builds foundations of a statehood based on the central government in Juba, the capital city, and in each of the 10 states that constitute South Sudan. International community has been focusing on supporting institutions of the government administration, but the assistance and help for other important institutions such as fire department, seem to have been totally forgotten.
The fire department of the Northern Bahr El-Ghazal state numbers 420 firefighters. Almost all of them used to fight in the guerilla warfare, and now, during the peace period, have been ordered to join the fire department. None of them or their commanders have had any firefighting training. They fight fires with branches and sand as they do not have any professional equipment. When the state is affected by floods, the actions of the fire department are limited to evacuating people from the flooded areas as there is no early flood warning system.
Beneficiaries
- Half a million of the Northern Bahr El-Ghazal state inhabitants, whose houses are regularly affected by floods on the Lol River;
150 firefighters who will be trained by 4 Polish experts; - The firefighting unit in the city of Aweil (60 firefighters) that will be fully equipped and an additional 5 firefighting units at the district level that will receive basic equipment.
Project location
The Northern Bahr El-Ghazal state
The grant, amounting to PLN 548,399, received under the Polish Aid program of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2013.
