GRCS AND NADMO RESPOND TO FLOOD VICTIMS IN UPPER EAST 4th October, 2018

The Ghana Red Cross Society [GRCS] and the National Disaster Management Organisation [NADMO], have jointly responded to the needs of flood victims in the Kassena-Nankana Municipality and the Builsa North District of the Upper East Region.

Mr. Amoak And His Family Pose By Their New Room

Officers of the NADMO and GRCS Volunteers undertook inspection visits to affected communities and registered those affected including houses that collapsed resulting from the incessant rains in the area. Thereafter, some relief items were secured and accordingly distributed to some of the victims while awaiting more supplies for further distribution.

On Thursday, the ISD joined a team from the GRCS on a fieldtrip to Sandema where, four tents were mounted for four households. Each tent had the capacity of containing a family size of about six people with adequate ventilation openings round it. The four included Mr. Akperibanopo Atimbiik’s family of three and the household of Mr. Amoak Anyominyeka comprising 11 members both in the Bilinsa Community as well as the families of Mr. Ayomah Anyanoi in Fankunsa, seven family members, and that of Mr. Kwame Akamakos whose five relations, including his brother, wife and children had all gone to put up with distant relatives elsewhere.

The National Disaster Management Coordinator of the GRCS, Mr. Saladin Sumani Mahama after the day’s rounds, disclosed that his outfit had so far deployed 20 tents to the Upper East Region to help provide temporal shelter for persons who were displaced as a result of the floods. He further disclosed that 16 of such tents had already been erected for some families in Kologo-Tor and Kologo-Zuo communities in the Kassena-Nankana Municipality.

Mr. Saladin noted that majority of people whose homes got destroyed in the floods, were living in school structures but observed that with schools now re-opened, there was the urgent need to provide adequate temporal housing facilities so that the affected persons could move out for academic work to continue. He reiterated that the Red Cross’ main objective was to alleviate human sufferings in times of disasters and that, while his outfit intervened with all that it had, it was imperative for other stakeholders such as Members of Parliament, philanthropic individuals, business entities and NGOs to also come on board.

A Display Of Vents of a tent by Alhaji of the GRCS

He explained that the tents were expensive to procure and that, they were only meant to give temporal accommodation for the displaced families over a reasonable period of time during which, things would have normalised and the tents retrieved for keeps by the Red Cross for future deployment during emergencies of a similar sort. He revealed that similar assistance had been sent to flood-hit areas in the Bongo and Bawku West districts and that, they were yet moblising to deploy such make-shift tents to other affected areas in Pusiga district and its environs.

According to Mr. Saladin, the GRCS in the current times has been leading campaigns and trainings for disaster risk reduction instead of waiting for disasters to happen and to run around in search of reactionary solutions. He said in this regard, some 20 disaster-prone communities in districts of the Upper East region had selected and presented volunteers who have since been trained and deployed. He said for instance, some 100 Disaster Risk Reduction Volunteers have been trained and deployed in five communities across the Bongo District alone.

Mr. Saladin posited that “it is costly to do relief than it is to undertake precautionary and preventive measures”. He therefore pledged that, the Red Cross will continue to partner NADMO, the Ghana National Fire Service and other stakeholders in building the capacities of communities through the Disaster Preparedness Response Teams in order to mitigate disasters or be able to effectively handle them if the unavoidable happens.

He advised rural dwellers to use cement blocks to construct the base of their houses to about four feet from the ground and then build on with the local mud bricks stressing that, this will make the buildings withstand any rains and floods. He revealed this method was used before in 2007 for building houses in the North Gonja, in Chuchuliga and in the Savelugu areas with very positive outcomes.

Meanwhile earlier in his brief, the Builsa North District NADMO Director, Mr. Bismark Abakisi told the Red Cross that, a total of 7000 people had been displaced in the district while several acres of farms were submerged in flood waters. He said in addition, over 3000 houses in Sandema, 1,190 houses in Wiaga and about 98 houses in Kadema as well as close to 2,000 houses in Chuchuliga were destroyed.

Mr. Abakisi however revealed that, the NADMO head office had distributed some relief items to flood victims in the area including 60 mattresses, 20 bags of maize, 13 packs of rice, plastic buckets and cups and over 200 pieces of insecticide mosquito nets. He said he had also sent out appeals to the Catholic Relief Service, the Buco Bank and some religious bodies in the district to help cater for the immediate needs of the affected persons.