MEDIA IMPORTANT ROLE IN DISSEMINATING EARLY WARNING INFORMATION– DCCMS

By Christina Mkutumula – Mana

The Department of Climate Change and Meteorological Services (DCCMS) has appealed to the media in the country to play an active role in disseminating information to the public on climate change.

DCCMS Deputy Director, Charles Vanya made the remarks Tuesday during an awareness campaign workshop for different stakeholders on the use of Hydro Meteorological Products and Services.

Vanya said the workshop was important as it will accord stakeholders discuss issues of hydro-met and how the media can help in disseminating important information on meteorological services and other disasters that occur due to climate change.

“DCCMS has put in place a number of activities that would engage the media as well as communities so that all the information generated at national level should trickle down to the intended target.

“In addition, we would want to train the media on how best they can interpret products that we generate as a Department so that it is disseminated to the public,” said Vanya.

He explained that during the Tropical Cyclone Freddy, the Department did not use the media much as such many people got information from social media such Facebook and WhatsApp which left out others in the community.

“We have engaged the media so that they can coordinate and disseminate early warning information to ensure timely dissemination of information to vulnerable communities,” he said.

In an interview, Assistant Hydrolic Officer in the Ministry of Water and Sanitation, Leman Ngwena said the workshop targeted the media as they are an important medium to access hydrological services and disseminate the same to the public.

Mana/ccm/pk