NADMO intensifies public education

The Upper East Regional office of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) has intensified public education on handling disaster management as the rainy season approaches.

The organisation said plans were far advanced to reduce risks that may be associated with this year’s rains as its officers engaged members of the public on measures to adopt to avert any disaster that may occur.

Mr Jerry Asamane, the Upper East Regional Director of NADMO who said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Bolgatanga indicated that his outfit had secured enough relief items to distribute to victims should the need arise.

He said food items, roofing sheets, buckets, blankets, mosquito nets, and cement among others had been procured to handle disaster issues as compared to previous years.

The Regional Director added that he had directed the Various Municipal and District Assemblies in the region to undertake feasibility studies to ascertain disaster prone areas to enable the organisation to develop strategies capable of reducing disaster occurrence in those areas.

He said most of the disasters that were recorded in the region could be prevented or reduced when proper and diligent work was done to handle them.

“I have instructed my Municipal and District Directors to do effective studies and find out the places that are mostly affected by disasters during rainy seasons and present them to me as quickly as possible. This will help us develop appropriate strategies for such identified areas.” Mr Asamane indicated.

The Regional Director noted that proper data collection on each area would assist them in their outreach programmes to educate and sensitise the public on how to help minimise the risk of disaster occurrence.

He disclosed that data on schools that were in deplorable conditions such as damaged roofing sheets and cracked walls were being collected to enable his outfit move building materials such as cement and roofing sheets to help rehabilitate them to reduce risks of collapsing if it rained.

Whilst indicating that most of the disasters were natural, Mr Asamane said poor sanitation and disregard for environmental regulations were other issues that led to severe disasters such as floods, and added that the organisation would soon launch a campaign dubbed “Operation Clean Gutters to clear and clean gutters”.

He indicated that the campaign would aim at educating members of the public to understand the need to practice proper sanitation management to prevent disasters like floods and said even though the organisation was understaffed, particularly at the lower levels, it was putting up best practices to ensure the few staff at post delivered best services.

The Director therefore urged government to resource his outfit to effectively carry out its mandate of reducing disaster risks, and effectively manage disasters should they occur as the organization had trained some volunteers to assist in its operations.