Ablekuma North Municipal Assembly holds disaster programme

The Ablekuma North Municipal Assembly has put in place a comprehensive disaster mitigation plan with the necessary financial and logistical support to holistically deal with disasters and their related occurrences in the municipality.

The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) Mr. Kofi Ofori stated this at Mallam Market in Accra where the Municipal National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) had an educational programme dubbed ‘’DISASTER MITIGATION’’ for the market women.

Mr. Ofori said, the plan alone would not achieve the desired results if residents did not adhere to simple fire precautions and safety tips.

The handling of domestic electrical gadgets and other appliances he said must be critically looked at.

Mr. Ofori advised the market women to avoid leaving naked fires, cool-pot and other things likely to cause fire and havoc at the market.

The Greater Accra Regional NADMO Director Mr. Archibold Cobbina expressed displeasure about the indiscrimination throwing of garbage into gutters, which he said was a major cause of floods in the municipality and advised that the practice should be stop.

The Electricity Company of Ghana (E.C.G), Mr. Cobbina said, would be asked to go round to disconnect all illegal connections which were a major cause of fire outbreaks.

Mr. Evans Anakwa the Regional NADMO Hydro Director said about 90 percent of disasters in the region were man-made and preventable.

Mr. Anakwa said the practice of building in water ways and dumping of garbage into drains should be stopped.

He encouraged citizens to report anyone seen dumping garbage into drains to the Greater Accra Regional NADMO Office for prosecution.

The Municipal Director of NADMO Mr. Kwaku Duah said for the first nine months of this year, nine disasters had been recorded; five floods affecting 153 victims, 52 casualties resulting from four fire outbreaks and six deaths from fire.

Mr. Duah described the municipality as flood- prone area and called for attitudinal change by the people.

He said the programme was the first in the series of educational programmes going to be undertaken by NADMO in the municipality.

Disaster prevention, Mr. Duah said was the collective responsibility of all citizens and called for their maximum co- operation to mitigate its reduction.

The Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) did a simulation exercise to teach the market women how to put off fire in case of accidental fire in the kitchen.