World Bank to send survey team to flood regions - Director

Tamale, Sept. 29, GNA - The World Bank is to send a survey team to the Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions to access the extent of damage caused by the recent floods and to determine priority areas of immediate support.

Mr. Ishoc Diwan, World Bank Country Director announced this in Tamale on Friday when he paid a courtesy call on Alhaji Mustapha Ali Idris, Northern Regional Minister to find out areas of collaboration to assist the displaced persons.

The two discussed the devastating floods in the region and what form of immediate attention to give to the worse hit areas to reduce the plight of the affected persons.

Mr. Diwan said The World Bank, after its assessment of the situation, would give enough priority to humanitarian issues such as displaced children, women and the aged to ensure that their lives were well protected.

"After this meeting, I would have discussions with our partners such as the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and Danish Fund for International Development (DFID) so that we would collectively find ways and means of meeting the health needs of children affected by the floods," he said.

Alhaji Mustapha Ali Idris, Northern Regional Minister on his part indicated that the devastating floods left in its wake, collapsed bridges, destruction of farms, collapsed buildings and destruction of a number of feed roads in the region, which needed immediate attention.

He said the Northern Region in collaboration with the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) would take measures to purify water bodies to avert any possible outbreak of water related diseases. He said, his outfit had also directed the CWSA to immediately access and sanitize all boreholes in the region to ensure that they were clean for use.

Alhaji Idris appealed for more assistance for the displaced people in the three northern regions and advised people living in riverbanks, to move up-stream to save themselves from floods.