Towards Flood Disaster Preparedness among Rural Dwellers in South East, Nigeria: The Role of Information

Abstract

It has become obvious that there is increase in flooding all over the world. Rural communities in
Nigeria are not exempted from this menace. This work looks into flood disaster preparedness
among rural dwellers in South East Nigeria. It tries to ascertain the role of information in helping
to checkmate flood disaster as well as the extent to which needed information is available to the
rural dwellers. The research adopted qualitative and quantitative methods to ascertain the format
of available information, as well as the role librarians could play in making information available
to users. It was discovered that there are limited sources of information for rural dwellers, thereby
making the role of libraries a very important one. Hindrances to the availability of information as
discovered by this work include lack of fund, lack of information on the exact location of needed
information, absence of public libraries, among others. The work recommends that: libraries and
media houses should rise up to their responsibility, awareness should be created on the location
of information, at all levels, Government should provide fund for information provision towards
preparedness for checkmating flood.