Disaster Management : Churches Evaluate Roles

For three days, members of the United Evangelical Mission met in Douala for a Disaster Management workshop. From 5-7 October, the Evangelical Church of Cameroon (EEC), in partnership with the United Evangelical Mission (UEM), brought together members from Africa to share experiences on disaster and develop necessary skills with regards to disaster preparedness for effective response and recovery. It was also to examine the role of the Church in times of disaster.
In most cases, churches are often used as safe places during disasters, church leaders are highly trusted and an important source of information for communities. Reasons why disaster management workshop came to make sure churches are active in disaster management and be prepared to help everyone in their communities not only Church members. They need to help rebuild after disaster and give hope to survivors and comfort the bereaved.
For the head of the UEM Africa Regional Office, Dr. Ernest William Kadiva, the church has an important role to educate and send warning signals before disaster. He said most people often affected by disaster are church members in one church or the order. As such, church leaders need to get the right information to pass it over to their Christians. He added that the church has the responsibility to sensitise their members on both natural and manmade, and what not to do to provoke disaster. He emphasized that they want to ensure that the rig...