Mr. Ransford Boakye, Eastern Regional National Disaster Management Organisation Coordinator (NADMO), has said the region experienced some erratic weather patterns last year.
He said, during the third quarter of 2011, torrential rains which lasted for almost 11 hours affected life and properties due to illegal buildings and illegal mining activities in and along the Birim River.
Mr. Boakye disclosed this when inaugurating a 20-member NADMO Committee at a two-day workshop for heads of departments, assembly members and chiefs at Nsawam.
He said the Committee aims at mobilising materials and funds to assist people who are affected by disasters.
Mr. Boakye said in all the 10 municipal/district assemblies, 16,386 persons were affected, six people lost their lives, 1,666 structures were destroyed and 497 houses collapsed while 130 wells got polluted by flood waters.
He said eight bridges and three roads were destroyed beyond repairs, 1,300 acres of farmland and produce, animals, especially poultry and fish ponds were affected, all running into thousands of Ghana cedis.
Mr Boakye said all these are caused by climate change and that the Ministry of Environment Science and Technology is coming out with a National Climate Change Adaptation Strategy (NCCAS) blueprint for adjusting Ghana’s economy, to expected climatic stimuli and their effects, and is projected for the period from 2010-2020.
The goal, he said, is “to enhance Ghana’s current and future development by strengthening its adaptive capacity with regard to climate change impact and building the resilience of the society and its ecosystems,” with the key words being; “Know more, Invest More and Build more safely.”
The Eastern Regional NADMO Coordinator said the practical implementation policies are afforestation programmes for tree planting exercises especially along river banks and placing bans on imported home use electronic gadgets such as air conditioners and refrigerators that tend to destroy the environment.
He said it would empower agencies like the Ghana Standards Board to introduce logos on products certified to be safe for our use, and the Environmental Protection Agency to check companies that still use outmoded methods in their production lines to change and use state-of-the-art machinery.
Mr. Mark Dompreh Amoah, Municipal Chief Executive and also the Chairman of the Committee, said it was very important to create the committee so that it could mobilise members to assist when emergencies occur.**
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