If you've never witnessed a flood, you may never get to know what it feels like when people talk about it... No matter how dramatic the media paints it, it never sends the full message until you experience one. But do I pray you experience it? Nah! It's not something I will even wish the worst of my enemies.... Maybe it's just a call to do the best you can if it's within your power to avoid people from witnessing that because Natural disasters are some of the most terrifying and humbling experiences anyone can go through.
Nigeria is one of the countries that is blessed when it comes to natural disasters, we rarely get to witness one in the good old days but currently, man made errors and inadequacies are making us experience this a lot more than expected.
A friend of mine lives in Ibadan. He recently relocated to a new apartment in the same Ibadan.
Just a month after he relocated......
There was flood.
According to him, water started seeping into his kitchen, he kept cleaning it while gently looking for the source the water was coming from, unknown to him that it was something much more serious.
Just like the speed of light, the fence surrounding his house collapsed and then came the gush of water inside compound. All the residents of the compound were left struggling with just coming out of their rooms successfully, no one was even talking about saving their properties nor anything, people just wanted to be Alive! Because what's the point of trying to safe properties when it will feel like fighting against time, and time was bound to win.
One of the resident suddenly lost the control of her right side, she couldn't move the right hand and leg (this was exactly when I got involved because I was called for her condition)
It happened that she has elevated blood pressure even before the incident so the incident triggered the blood pressure so much that gave her stroke-like symptoms.
Back in my friend's room, owing to the speed the water entered with, the freezer was turned upside down, the bed was soaked, the gas cooker was floating.. I don't even want to talk about the solar battery nor the television sets, or should we talk about the various original documents?
It's never something I would wish even to my enemy indeed.
I began asking questions after the incident and I was shocked as to how wicked a human being can be.
Apparently, such incident happened in that particular compound two years ago, the landlord instead of finding solutions such as building irrigation tracks around the house just reconstructed the fence that got damaged and here we are again, this year experiencing same trauma like the residents of two years ago.... That's utter wickedness.
Better drainage system could have gone a long way in preventing not just this flooding but many floodings we witness in Nigeria. Even the areas that had proper drainage system were unapologetically filled with dirts, blocking the flow of water.
Lack of proper surveying of areas before building houses remains a culprit too because many persons want to cut cost at the detriment of people's lives, they tend to just get lands and without even considering if that land is a water path go ahead to erect mansions and rent it to unsuspecting tenants.
No emergency measures exist. I wasn't there in person that day, but I was there spiritually because of the call I received and it was palpably felt that fear was the order of the day.
Having emergency hotlines and evacuation plans is what a good country should have for these kind of situations which would help a bit in saving lives atleast even when the properties have been lost.
Igbo tribe will always say that, "Onye dị ndụ gba first” invariably meaning that, "he who is alive is the ultimate because everything else can be recovered."
It would also be wonderful if awareness are created about some of these flood-prone areas and if possible insist no residential building is erected there because the consequences are just too much to fathom.
Is there really a coping through natural disasters? I think you just basically Surviving rather than coping.
At that time, my friend relied solely on me for everything atleast for the first three days. This was because, he had no food as all raw foodstuffs were damaged, no ATM card, he literally had nothing and was forced to live under the roofs of hotel spending exorbitant amounts he never budgeted for.
But in all, if there was anything that incident taught me, it was the fact that "Nature will definitely test you at a point but it's the response that you give to it that really matters" and most times, you definitely need the support of your friends.
Thanks for reading and have a nice day ahead