Kilifi County government on Wednesday afternoon received communication equipment that will be used to operationalize its Emergency Operation Centre (EOC). – By Ramadhan Kambi.
The county received the equipment from Kenya Red Cross for its use at the EOC which is based at the Kilifi North Sub County Offices in Matsangoni.
The equipment included a range of mobile phones, megaphones, communication radios and safety wears like gumboots and gloves that will be used for disaster rescue and communication.
The equipment was handed over to the County executive in charge of Devolution Prof Gabriel Katana by Red Cross manager in charge of Disaster Rescue Mr Kelvin Kiprono.
Also, present was Devolution Chief Officer Adan Mohamed and other senior County and Red Cross officials.
Mr Kiprono said the county was among the three counties that had been target for disaster rescue operations owing to their locality. Other counties that will benefit from the equipment are Tana River and Garissa Counties.
“Today we have brought to Kilifi this equipmentthat include mobile phones, megaphones, communication radios, computer and a big screen. The mobile phones will have a number that will be used by the residents of Kilifi to call in case of any disasters including flooding and fire while the communication radios will enable response team communicate while responding to a disaster,” he said.
The display screens he said will be used to show different kind information pertaining floods and drought and also a computer that will be used by centre staffs to implement various programs to the county.
“Then we have the Megaphones that will be used by the rescue staff to communicate to a large audience in case of a looming disaster and with us here today are protective equipment like gumboots, gloves and other equipment depending on the kind of disaster they will be responding to,” said Mr Kiprono.
He said the installation of the equipment at the centre is going to take two weeks before a run-test before its official use.
“The total coast of these equipment is about Sh12 million but divided into three counties so the share of Kilifi County is about Sh4 million that we put into this centre. However, we shall continue to work closely with the devolved government to make sure that the response to disaster in the county is always at its peak,” said Mr Kiprono.
Prof Katana thanked Red Cross for the donation and said that they will go a long way in response to disasters at the county.
“We are happy that finally our engagement with Red Cross is bearing fruits. We really needed this equipment for our Matsangoni centre since we are adjacent to the Ocean and always prone to disasters. This to us is a milestone,” said Prof Katana.
He said the county will continue to work closely with Red Cross as it has been the norm and said that they are even more ready to get assistance from the agency.
“Our continued good engagement shall continue and this is one example of how both the county and Red Cross have worked together to make sure that we respond to disasters timely and every moment they occur,” he added.
