Church disaster preparedness workshop ends

Participants in a week-long training workshop on disaster preparedness and management in Sierra Leone have recommended setting up a national emergency early warning team, the worshop coordinator, Hassan Bangura, told IRIN on Tuesday.

Organised by the Council of Churches in Sierra Sierra Leone (CCSL), in the capital, Freetown, the 10-15 March workshop trained 30 CCSL participants from the country in skills and procedures for effective managment of natural and man-made disasters.

One of the objectives was to build capacity for activities to help mitigate the effects of potential disasters. "We discussed peace building as a mitigation measure at the political and social level as well as other strategies to minimise conflict," Bangura, CCSL's coordinator of development and environment, told IRIN. He cited the recent dissatisfaction voiced by some members of the Sierra Leone electorate over some aspects of the voter registration process as a possible warning sign of future problems.

In addition to the formation of an emergency early warning team, participants recommended that the workshop should be an "eye-opener for local capacity building" and a forerunner of future workshops to take place in other regions of Sierra Leone, Bangura said.

The Freetown workshop was preceded by one in Ghana last year which drew participants from various countries in the subregion.