A House of Representatives member, Hon. Benjamin Kalu, yesterday, visited the Amankalu community in Alayi on a fact gathering mission organized by Hon. Emma Eke, the Director-General, Benjamin Kalu Foundation, to inspect the massive landslide which recently occurred in the area.
Igbere TV reports that that the landslide destroyed peoples’ houses, graves, walls, trees, etc.
The landslide which measured about 4 kilometres, spanned across 4 villages with a gradient depth of over 100 feet, effectively cutting them off from the local stream, their only source of water for drinking, cooking and other activities. Cracks could already be seen on the houses of indigenes as the landslide dangerously lurked a mere 20 feet away from the nearest residential settlement and was fast approaching.
Speaking with Igbere TV after he donated undisclosed amount of money to those affected by the ugly incident, Ben Kalu said “when my people are affected, everybody in Nigeria are affected”.
He made it crystal clear that he had already alerted various agencies in the country to bring relief materials to the victims.
He further urged the people to keep believing in the President Muhammadu Buhari led administration and the leadership of the 9th National Assembly which he is a member of.
“The next step is to engage the relevant stakeholders in regards to managing issues of this nature”, he said.
“Ordinarily, science taught us that when this kind of trouble wants to happen, it could be either by using the typography area of the place, the geology of the place or the morphology of the place.
“Sometimes, it could also be the hydrology of the place or human activity or the combination of all these factors.
“It is difficult for us at this point to establish exactly what was the cause of this tremo that took away big trees, 4-5 kilometres of land with the depth of 100 ft that has cracked buildings, graves. The inhabitants of this place can no longer sleep peacefully at night. They are afraid of waking up in the morning and seeing their houses swallowed.
“We need to engage the stakeholders to properly analyse what actually cause this problem to prevent reoccurrence.
“I’m happy that we didn’t lose any life but we cannot wait until people start dying before the response team will start putting the necessary things that are expected to be in place.
“That’s why l left what I was doing in the National Assembly and came down here to see my people who elected me. The Abia State government cannot manage the level of the devastation I saw here today”, Ben Kalu said.
He added that there should be a strong agency to handle the damages caused by the landslide, insisting that the state cannot do it alone.
He, however, noted that the disaster will be handled by Federal Government agencies such as NEMA, Ecological Funds, Ministry of Environment and other agencies.
“I have come to access it myself and for the purpose of relaying it to the various stakeholders when I return to Abuja” Kalu said.
He also promised to present the situation before the floor of the House of Representatives as a matter of urgent public importance.
“If it involves raising a motion on the floor of the National Assembly, I will gladly do so…because the lives of these ones are very important to me.”
Hon Benjamin Kalu further revealed that the situation would be given urgent attention and wide publicity.
Speaking on the number of communities affected, Rep Kalu placed the number at four.
“…And we are talking about the population of 20,000 people. We cannot afford to allow any life to be affected. 20,000 lives are at risk as we speak now.
“Some of them are no longer sleeping here. Most of them have relocated to Ugwueke, Item, Igbere.
“We cannot allow the whole land to be eaten up by this tremo because a stitch in time saves nine”, Kalu added.
On his part, Aman Kalu, President-General of the affected community, while speaking with Igbere TV, described Hon Benjamin Kalu as a kind man.
He thanked him for coming to their rescue all the way from Abuja and pleaded with him to provide portable water supply for the community.
Aman Kalu expressed faith in the ability of the honourable member to ensure that the problem of the community were addressed in a timely manner.
Hon. Chijioke Chukwu, member representing Bende North State Constituency in Abia State House of Assembly also appreciated Benjamin Kalu for coming.
He revealed that they are not going to rest until everything was put in place and victims compensated.
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