NADMO institutes pans to reduce impact of disasters

The National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) in the Northern Region has said it has put in place measures to help reduce the impact of disasters in the region this year.

Alhaji Abdallah Abdul-Mumin, Northern Regional Director of NADMO, who stated this, said “Some of these measures include our regular sensitization programmes on both print and electronic media on the kind of disasters we live with and how to prevent them.”

Alhaji Abdul-Mumin also announced that “We are far advanced in our discussions with the Urban Roads, Ghana Highways Authority and Feeder Roads for the expansion of some major storm drains across the region to help avert the numerous flooding experienced in the region.”

He was speaking at a stakeholders’ workshop to validate a draft Northern Regional Disaster Management Plan (NRDMP) as well as a Northern Regional Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for emergency response in the region.

The two-day workshop, which ended in Tamale, was organised by the Northern Regional Directorate of NADMO in collaboration with the Ghana Red Cross Society (GRCS) with funding support from the Swiss Red Cross.

Participants included; representatives from the security agencies, various agencies of the United Nations, public sector institutions and the media.

The Northern Regional Directorate of NADMO in December, last year, held a stakeholders’ workshop in Tamale to draft the NRDMP to position it to address issues of disaster, and develop SOPs to help improve response and management of disasters in the region.

Alhaji Abdul-Mumin said NADMO was also providing routine daily weather updates from its Emergency Operation Centre to all Assemblies and stakeholders in the region to keep them abreast with any eventualities.

According to statistics from the Northern Regional Directorate of NADMO, 25 out of the 28 Assemblies in the region (Northern, North East and Savannah Regions) were affected by disasters such as flooding, rainstorm and fires in 2018, where about 62,658 victims were recorded and 12 people died.

In 2019, a total of 17,593 victims were involved in the rainstorm and flood disasters recorded in the region, most of them displaced for some periods.

However, with the onset of rains, it is expected that some communities will experience flood and rainstorm disasters, but NADMO is hopeful that its measures instituted will help reduce the impacts of such disasters. Alhaji Abdul-Mumin touched on the NRDMP and the SOPs, saying they would help NADMO in the region to engage its stakeholders, and development partners to improve on its management capabilities.

Mr Salifu Saeed, Northern Regional Minister, who was represented during the workshop, expressed the need for continued collaboration amongst stakeholders to ensure effective response to save lives and property.

Mr Abdul-Rahamani Yussif, Northern Regional Manager of the GRCS said they were working to pilot 20 community information centres at communities without radio signals in the three regions to educate community members on prevailing disasters and how to avoid and or reduce their impacts.

Some of the stakeholders expressed the need for commitment from government and other agencies to ensure adequate funding of the plans to ensure improved response to disasters in the region.