Extensive national awareness campaigns to alert the public are underway in a bid to mitigate the possible effects of the just started El Nino phenomenon. This was revealed yesterday by Chief Supt. Dams Gatare, the head of Disaster Management Unit in the Internal Affairs ministry.

 "We are preparing national awareness campaigns meant for the general public that will be done through mass media (both radios and TVR). There will be specific messages given through the monthly Umuganda and mapping most vulnerable areas,” said Gatare.

"Specifically, there is going to be a talk show soon on the current trends, projections and preventive strategies”.

Some of the strategies include training of different personnel at district and sector levels, and informing the public on how to manage the environment in terms of land use which is the root cause of the weather phenomenon.

The adverse El-Nino weather condition is caused by a change in the atmosphere in the Pacific Ocean, resulting into a pattern that leads to floods, food shortage, disease outbreaks and deaths of livestock.

Regional meteorology forecasts indicate that torrential rains that largely started this month will spill over to January and February next year.

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