THE LAGOS FLOOD AND BEYOND: GETTING IT RIGHT IN DISASTER PREPAREDNESS AND EMERGENCY RESPONSE

In the wake of July 10, 2011, Lagos was greeted with a torrential rainfall of about 300m that resulted into flood of about 1000mm to 1200mm. Still battling with that, the Calabar Flood struck, displacing thousands of people. All were forecasted by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET);that became the beginning of Lagos floods and became a disaster when it claimed the lives of no fewer than 31 persons (as reported by Vanguard, July 15, 2011) including a 5year old that was drown.

Most definitely, this will not be the last of disasters we will be experiencing in Lagos, and perhaps, some other vulnerable states in Nigeria. Even as the unverified news of a 20-meter high tide tsunami heading towards the coast of Lagos, Lome and Accra, following an offshore quake in Malabo circulates round the disaster risk response world.

Consequently, We might need to ask ourselves, if we are prepared for natural disasters in Nigeria? and if we are, how fast do we respond to all these disasters, we call emergency management. With the head of the senate recently reiterating the need for emergency response managers to quickly and hastenly develop disaster response techniques - Perhaps, its time to take a cue from the Haiti Earthquake, the Negris Cyclone, the Alabama Tornadoe, the Pakistan Flood, and the recent Japan Earthquake.

Analytically, the world is changing, and we now live in a "state where a traditional framework and several experimental approaches existed in parallel — a period when the explanatory power of the old system wanes while some inchoate new system explores and codifies the methods that are strong enough to begin replacing the old ones" as Thomas Kuhn defined Paradigm Change in the Structure of Scientific Revolutions. The working tools that are now been deployed before, during and after disaster is the growing Virtual Technology Communities (VTCs) that we call "humanitarian technologists".

These new breeds are experts who are most often technical professionals with deep expertise in geographic information systems,mapping, web development and database management, social media, and/or online campaigns - they apply their skills to some of the hardest elements of disaster risk communities. They include the international Network of Crisis Mappers, Google Map Maker, Ushahidi, The Global Earth Observation - Catastrophe Assesement Network (GEO-CAN), The SBTF ( Stand by Task Force), Crisis Commons, Random Hacks of Kindness RHoK.

Quite notably, is the fact that VTCs will never replace the current institutional

frameworks of Nigerian Meteorological Agency(NIMET), National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and its state agencies,and other humanitarian organizations, but crisis response and other elements of the disaster risk management cycle are approaching a state resembling a shift in paradigm. It is pertinent for these organizations to start bulding capacity in this vein, and look for ways to collaborate with professionals that uses this technology, those in Nigeria and in diaspora. Because the penetration of Internet and Mobile Technology is escalating everyday in our Country, it will be a shift to a new direction to leverage on their potentials, for which these new technologies are been used.

EMERGENCY/CRISIS MANAGEMENT AND CROWDSOURCE MAPPING IN NIGERIA

Emergency management (or disaster management) is the coordination and integration of all activities necessary to build, sustain and improve the capability for disaster prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery. It is the continuous process by which all individuals, groups and communities manage hazards in an effort to avoid or ameliorate the impact of disasters resulting from the hazards. And, effective emergency management relies on thorough integration of emergency plans at all levels of government and non-government involvement.

Nigeria has continued to witness a series of embarrassing disasters and emergency situations that are largely human-induced from post-election violence, youth militancy, communal clashes, religious conflicts, fire outbreaks, road accidents, kidnapping and robberies. The magnitudes of the carnage usually overwhelm response agencies responsible for tackling and mitigating the situations.

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) as the coordinating organ for response agencies becomes the major attraction, even when its staffs on humanitarian duties survives attacks from warring parties, cases which have been seen during the Jos ethnic crisis, communal clashes between villages. It could be said that with NEMA in place in Nigeria, we have had the problem of coordination with local disaster management, during pre and post emergencies and disasters and because disasters are always localized, all the five phases of emergency management – prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery depend on local structures, which are not effective, to succeed.

Nevertheless, emergency management and coordination has shifted from grounds men to the use of technology to co-ordinate emergencies and humanitarian services. In recent years, advancements in technologies have made it possible for virtual communities such as OpenStreetMap, Ushahidi, Sahana, CrisisMappers, Virtual Disaster Viewer, Google MapMaker and INSTEDD to provide increasing support to disaster preparedness and emergency response efforts. A feat that has helped in managing crisis in Libya using the Libya Crisis Map, was used in co-ordinating humanitarian affairs in Haiti and in the Alabama Tornadoes and a list of others.

With disasters been prevalent in Africa, it is most important that we begin to look at leveraging on these technologies, thus leading to capacity building in this area, which in some months will start, no thanks to crisismappers members that are resided in Nigeria. Our Strength lies in the number of Nigerians that uses mobile technologies in communication escalating every day. We hope to create crisis camps in each state, which might comprise of disaster emergency officers, especially in states, Information Technology professionals, social entrepreneurs and volunteers.

FORESTS AND ITS SERVICE TO NIGERIA AND NIGERIANS

Forest is a plant community, predominantly of trees or other woody vegetation, occupying an extensive area of land. In its natural state, a forest remains in a relatively fixed, self - regulated condition over a long period of time.

In Nigeria, we have two predominant classes of forest, which is the Tropical Savannas of the Northern Nigeria, which are dominated by grasses and sedges, with open stands of widely spaced trees that are frequently thorny; and we have the Tropical rain forests which are characteristics of the Southern Nigeria, plant growth is quite profuse here, and because the metamorphosis of leaves occur gradually throughout each year, the forest is always active.

Forests cover only about 12% in 2005 of the country's total land area, but has shrank into 9.9% in 2010. Deforestation, which is the illegal cutting down of trees has become a major problem, made worse by massive rural-urban migration, and construction works. Other environmental threats include settlement within forest reserved areas, bushfires, increasing demand for fuelwood and timber, road expansion and oil extraction activities.

Perhaps, it should be known that the livelihoods of 80% of the Nigerian population depends on forests, and it provides home to more than 15% people in Nigeria, and even serve as a home to 60% of terrestrial biodiversity.We are quite sure that Nigeria has a wonderful share of the $379 billion total global trade in forest products in 2005.Forests, at large helps in the cycle of carbon usage by which energy flows through Earth's ecosystem

Nigeria has an organized system of nature preserves, game reserves, and national parks in addition to a forest management system, but most management is carried on at the state level where cases of malpractices and mismanagement of funds are gross, especially with the introduction of ecological funds .Law enforcement and protected system infrastructure are lacking, and abuses of protected land are common. The country also participates in the African Convention on the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.

Several Nigerian groups have campaigned actively, but with little success, to compel the government and major oil companies to introduce environmental safeguards. In 1988 the government created the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (FEPA) to address problems of desertification, oil pollution, and land degradation, but the FEPA has had only a minor impact

Forest is a plant community, predominantly of trees or other woody vegetation, occupyin an extensive area of land. In its natural state, a forest remains in a relatively fixed, self - regulated codition over a long period of time.

In Nigeria, we have two predominant classes of forest, which is the Tropical Savannas of the Northern Nigeria, which are dominated by grasses and sedges, with open stands of widely spaced trees that are frequently thorny; and we have the Tropical rain forests which are characteristics of the Southern Nigeria, plant growth is quite profuse here, and because the metamorphosis of leaves occur gradually throughout each year, the forest is always active.

Forests cover only about 12% in 2005 of the country's total land area, but has shrank into 9.9% in 2010. Deforestation, which is the illegal cutting down of trees has become a major problem, made worse by massive rural-urban migration, and construction works. Other environmental threats include settlement within forest reserved areas, bushfires, increasing demand for fuelwood and timber, road expansion and oil extraction activities.

Perhaps, it should be known that the livelihoods of 80% of the Nigerian population depends on forests, and it provides home to more than 15% people in Nigeria, and even serve as a home to 60% of terrestrial biodiversity.We are quite sure that Nigeria has a wonderful share of the $379 billion total global trade in forest products in 2005.Forests, at large helps in the cycle of carbon usage by which energy flows through Earth's ecosystem

Nigeria has an organized system of nature preserves, game reserves, and national parks in addition to a forest management system, but most management is carried on at the state level where cases of malpractices and mismanagement of funds are gross, especially with the introduction of ecological funds .Law enforcement and protected system infrastructure are lacking, and abuses of protected land are common. The country also participates in the African Convention on the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.

Several Nigerian groups have campaigned actively, but with little success, to compel the government and major oil companies to introduce environmental safeguards. In 1988 the government created the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (FEPA) to address problems of desertification, oil pollution, and land degradation, but the FEPA has had only a minor impact.

With the inception of the internet and youth organizations, the future looks brighter than what it has used to be; we have organizations, volunteers, climate change advocators and social entrepreneurs, now collaborating to make the environment sustainable, we only hope that all levels of government in Nigeria will join hands with this new formations to at least kickstart a new path to a sustainable environment.

THE WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY 2011 IN NIGERIA

The World Environment Day (WED) was established by the United Nations

General Assembly to mark the opening of the 1972 Stockholm Conference

on the Human Environment.Celebrating WED is about the inspirational power of individual actions that collectively become an exponential force for positive change.

WED is celebrated around the world in many ways, including street rallies,

bicycle parades, green concerts, essay and poster competitions in schools,

tree planting, recycling efforts, clean-up campaigns and much more.

In Nigeria, WED will be celebrated by hiking the hills of Gwarinpa, in Abuja and organizing a climate change workshop on the hills of Gwarinpa on Saturday, June 4, 2011 at 9am and on Sunday, June 5, 2011 we will be having an Arts and Crafts exhibition at Dreemi, Plot 75, 1st Avenue, Gwarinpa, Abuja by 3pm with the theme: Forests, Service to Nature. No thanks to the Nigeria Youth Climate Change Coalition and Greenback Nigeria that is putting this together to create awareness about environmental sustainability and issues surrounding Climate Change.

However, as the Environment becomes the biggest threat to all other Millenium Development Goals (MDGs), it will be of much concern to create more awareness on environmental sustainability, in essence, Nigeria's natural resources, which as become its valuable assets are seriously threatened, mostly by anthropogenic causes. Grim statistics from the Nigeria MDG report for 2010 showed that between 2000 and 2010, the area of forest shrank by a third, from 14.4% to 9.9% of the land area; little progess was made up to 2005 in providing access to safe water and accessing improved sanitation.

Moreover, Nigeria remains acutely vulnerable to climate change and its impacts in each ecological zone will be different. But, if well managed, measures to deal with the effects of climate change which include creating awareness, building eco-friendly communities, encouraging eco-friendly products, and enforcing environmental degradation laws provide important opportunities for ensuring more sustainable progress.

ONLINE INTERNET BUSINESSES: NO SHORTCUT!

In the past six months, six out of ten clients have made enquiries about an internet business that can fetch them more and quicker profit than what they are doing presently- "the-get-rich-quick-schemes"...what more can we tell them...there are no get-rich-quick-scheme. Just as there are no get-rich-quick-schemes, so there are no secrets.

If you type in "Opportunities to make money" into Google, you get over 72,100,000 hits; 427,000 if you Google Get-rich-quick-schemes; 594,000,000 if you Google "sex", but God is up there with 363,000,000 and "work is a staggering 5,670,000,000 so maybe there's hope for us yet.

Now believe us, they do work. But not for you, not for the mugs who sign up, they work for the instigators, beginners, the ones who launch such schemes...as about 45 million Nigerians, using the internet are looking for ways to adapt to a new world...Internet get-rich-quick schemes still exist as a shortcut to success...and the more you try looking...the less you will see...so don't go buying any of them either.

INTERNET USERS BEWARE: THIS COST OUR CLIENT A MILLION!

Perhaps, you must have come across a mail in your inbox titled United Parcel Service Notification or DHL Notification, Please ignore. UPS and DHL does not and will not send a notification to you. Furthermore, the mail is been sent from an e-mail address that looks like these - support3hlfu@ups.com, dhlinqx@dhl.com; a file with a .zip extension is always attached with the mail, for you to view, if you try extracting that file, your device operating system will crash the next day.
Please adhere, and inform others, its quite inevitable, because there are over 40million Nigerians using the internet. Remember, no one can reap, where he/she has not sowed.

Chuka Momoh, use to be one of our new clients, he's internet saavy, and leverages on Internet to increase ROI with respect to his business. Last week, he sent us a support form for his 5 workstations for vulnerability. We arranged for a vulnerability test, and in few mins, we found out that these mails were the cause of his/workstation's demise.

He told us the mail was sent to all his employee, and they all tried opening the attachement. Alas!there was a 1.2million worth prototype estate on one of the workstation. The only back up they had was one of the compromised workstation.

WORKING SECURELY AT WIRELESS HOTSPOTS

Wireless hotspots are changing the way people work. These wireless local area networks (LANs) provide high speed Internet connection in public locations—as well as at home—and need nothing more than a mobile PC such as a laptop or notebook computer equipped with a wireless card.

In fact, hotspots are an everyday connection method for travelers and remote workers to browse the Internet, check their email, and even work on their corporate networks while away from the office.Hotspots range from paid services to public, free connections. Hot spots are everywhere, including:

Coffee shops
Restaurants
Libraries
Bookstores
Airports
Hotel lobbies

But they all have one thing in common—they are all open networks that are vulnerable to security breaches. And that means it's up to you to protect the data on your PC. Below we cover a few tips to make working in public locations more secure.

1.Try to choose more secure connections
It's not always possible to choose your connection type—but when you can, opt for
wireless networks that require a network security key or have some other form of
security, such as a certificate. The information sent over these networks is encrypted, which can help protect your computer from unauthorized access. The security features of different networks appear along with the network name as your PC discovers them.

2.Make sure your firewall is activated
A firewall helps protect your mobile PC by preventing unauthorized users from gaining access to your computer through the Internet or a network. It acts as a barrier that checks all incoming information, and then either blocks the information or allows it to come through. All Microsoft Windows operating systems come with a firewall, and you can make sure it's turned on.

3.Monitor your access points
Chances are that there are multiple wireless networks anywhere you're trying to
connect. These connections are all access points, because they link into the wired
system that gives you Internet access. So how do you make sure you're connecting to the right one? Simple—by configuring your PC to let you approve access points before you connect.

4.Disable file and printer sharing
File and printer sharing is a feature that enables other computers on a network to
access resources on your computer. When you are using your mobile PC in a hotspot, it's best to disable file and printer sharing—when it's enabled, it leaves your computer vulnerable to hackers. Remember, though, to turn this feature back on when you return to the office.

5.Make your folders private
When the folders on your mobile PC are private, it's more difficult for hackers to
access your files.

6.Encrypt your files
You can protect your files further by encrypting them, which requires a password to
open or modify them. Because you must perform this procedure on one file at a time,
consider password-protecting only the files that you plan to use while working in a
public place.

7.Consider completely removing sensitive data from your notebook PC
If you're working with extremely sensitive data, it might be worth taking it off your notebook PC altogether. Instead, save it on a corporate network share and access it only when necessary. This way, you have multiple safeguards in place.