International Day of Disaster Reduction marked

Ghana Federation of the Disabled (GFD) would soon be represented on the Reconstructive Technical Committee to get them involved in building resilient cities.

“We at National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) would like persons with disabilities to be active participants in the planning, implementing and monitoring of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) actions in climate change policies, conflict prevention and mitigation,”

Mr Kofi Portuphy, National Coordinator of NADMO said at the launch of the 2013 International Day for Disaster Reduction (IDDR) in Accra.

The Day, which falls on October 13, is on the theme: “Living with Disability and Disaster”.

The day was set aside by the United Nations (UN) to celebrate how people and communities are reducing their risk to disaster and also raise awareness on the importance of disaster risk reduction.

NADMO intends to incorporate a comprehensive accessibility in humanitarian action policies, and ensuring that relief operations are fully accessible to all, including persons with disability, Mr Portuphy said.

“As the government organisation responsible for disaster management we will ensure that all stakeholders coordinate their effort to ensure that disability is included in their project as a core cross-cutting theme".

He said for this reason NADMO would coordinate and collaborate with people living with all forms of disability to get them involved in building resilient cities.

Mr Portuphy said between 2002 and 2011, 4,130 disasters were recorded and 1,117, 527 people perished around the world while a minimum of 1,195 billion dollars was also recorded in losses.

In 2011 alone, 302 disasters claimed 29, 782 lives, affected 206 million and inflicted damages worth an estimated 366 billion dollars.

In a speech read on his behalf, Minister for the Interior, Mr Kwesi Ahwoi, said Ghana joined in the celebration of IDDR in 1997 after the establishment of NADMO by Act 517 of 1996 as required by the UN and has since been part of it.

This year, as part of the step up initiative, which aims at partnering with a particular group of people every year leading to the world conference for disaster reduction, 2015 would focus on persons with disability, he said.

The IDDR, he said, would bring to the fore the peculiar plight of persons with disabilities in the event of disaster and also tap into their unique contribution.

The minister said the day is to express their concerns, needs and recommendation as well as include them in planning process to reduce and manage disasters.

Mr Isaac Taggun, National advocacy officer of the GFD, welcomed the coming on board of a member of the Federation but noted that there was more to be done for them during disaster than food, mattresses and blankets.

He said almost all public buildings were not disability friendly and asked government to back actions with words, saying, what was equally worrying is that there is no credible data on disability making planning for them difficult.

He urged NADMO and government to consider their concerns and noted that disaster did not discriminate against individuals.