DAR ES SALAAM, Nov 7 (NNN-DAILYNEWS) — THE Tanzanian government has pulled all resources to contain wildfire at Mount Kilimanjaro and vowed to strengthen the disaster management unit to address such calamities in future.
Tabling the Mount Kilimanjaro wildfire report in the National Assembly here, Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa said the government has pulled all the resources from the army to residents to contain the fires.
“The exercise is on the running track as we have contained most of the areas, we pay special tribute to the Tanzania People’s Defence Forces (TPDF) for deploying a special mission of 878 soldiers alongside two helicopters to battle the wildfire,” said the Premier.
He said the exercise encountered a lot of challenges including strong winds that were changing the direction of fire, thus forcing the fire fighters to change options from now and then.
He told the MPs that 33 square kilometres of the area at the African rooftop was destroyed by fire.
However, Majaliwa unveiled good news that a route leading to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro is safe and assured that tourism activities have not been interrupted.
He directed for the establishment of a special disaster management units within the Tanzania National Parks (Tanapa) and Kilimanjaro National Park (Kinapa).
Other directives include massive investment on modern technology especially on precaution, identification and fire extinguishing, as well as strengthening the rescue units by collaborating with citizens.
Moreover, he said, the government will empower the national disaster management unit within his office with state-of-the art equipment and latest technology to contain such events. It will also continue to build capacity of the personnel.
Majaliwa added: “We need to come up with a strategy that will enable us to deal with disasters in our parks; we need to strengthen the disaster unit.”
The wildfire believed to be fuelled by high winds and recurrent drought spells has been raging for nearly two weeks. It erupted on Oct 21st; this year near the Karanga Camp located 3,963 metres above sea level.
On Nov 1, the Chief of Defence Forces of the Tanzania People’s Defence Forces (TPDF) General Jacob John Mkunda ordered the deployment of the army forces on Mt Kilimanjaro to help curb the raging flames.
More than 500 people, including firefighters, national park staff, tour guides and civilians, have been battling to put out the fire. — NNN-DAILYNEWS
