Introduction
It was an ordinary weekday evening till it began to rain late into the night. Given the magnitude of the downpour, it was not long before reports started coming in about flooding in parts of the capital.
The intensity of the rain and the havoc it was wreaking in parts of the capital led to distress calls from all over the capital, hardest hit areas included La, Teshie Nungua area, Nima, Mamobi, Alajo etc. Basically every part of the capital had a fair share of damage and loss.
Motorists could barely navigate through town because major roads were flooded and access routes to and from town were cut off completely. Everywhere was chocked. There was water, water and water all over the place.
Distress Calls, GOIL station explosion
Distress calls began 'flooding' most newsrooms of radio stations who were covering the floods LIVE on air, their main reporters being the very citizens either locked up in the floods or held hostage in their homes deep into the night.
Officialdom (especially NADMO and city authorities) spoke on radio with assurances that everything humanly possible was being done to ensure safety and security of persons and property.
Then came the big one, fire in the flood. A GOIL fuel station at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra was up in flames after an explosion. The Fire Service managed to fight the fire which had ravaged households, the entire filling station and adjoining structures.
The other worrying bit of the explosion was that it claimed the lives of persons who had huddled together in and around the station, waiting for the rains to subside so that they could find their way home. The extent of the damage was left for morning.
President Visits Blast Site
Early Thursday morning, President John Dramani Mahama; visited the scene of the fire to assess the extent of the damage. He was distraught especially at the loss of lives and charged that drastic measures be taken to forestall a recurrence of a disaster of that magnitude.
In his words; "Often when these measures are drastic, you have a lot of sympathy and pressure not to take those measures but I think that the time has come for us to remove houses out of water ways and the public should understand that it is necessary to save everybody else," he further described the incident as "catastrophic and unprecedented."
More Rains: Meteo Dept. Warns
It was not before long that the Meteorological Service Agency also stepped into the fray as expected. Their message was that we had to expect more rains in the coming days. A warning to the relevant authorities to take precaution.
Health Minister Alex Segbefia Appeal
The sector Minister, Alex Segbefia also visited some health facilities to ascertain the extent of the human loss that had been recorded. It was at the 37 Military Hospital that he addressed a press briefing where he reemphasized government's commitment to bring the situation under control.
He further charged the general public to voluntarily donate blood to the hospitals in order to help save the lives of victims who suffered in the fuel station disaster. He also warned of a possible outbreak of Cholera and advised the public to take necessary precaution.
Crunching the casualty figures
The casualty figures from the explosion and flood were pegged at 96 at first count. A much clearer figure came up after aggregating figures received mostly by the major hospitals, Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH), the 37 Military Hospital and the Police Hospital.
The first official figures by the minister totalled 65 persons in all; 18 women and 47 men. The Police hospital according to reports also had some 60 casualties from the fire. It means then that there were about a 125 people lost to the fuel station explosion. That number has since risen to 152 people.
Mixed Bag
Nana Addo Danquah Akuffo Addo, flagbearer of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) visited the scene of the incident. In his media interaction he expressed condolences to families and relations who might have lost loved ones to the unfortunate situation and labelled the called the event "a dark day in the history of Accra."
Former President Jerry Rawlings also added his voice to commiserations to families that lost relations. In his view, the unchecked indiscipline of people building in waterways was to be blamed for the unfortunate flooding of the capital and other parts of the country. He further called for a probe into the issue.
The Christian Council through its General Secretary, Rev. Dr. Opuni Frimpong backed the voluntary blood donation appeal earlier made by the Health Minister for people to go and donate blood to the blood banks in these hard times.
He further tasked churches to play their role of giving emotional support and attention to members who may have suffered loss of their relations and properties to the flood and explosion.
The medical and security agencies cannot also be left out in all of this, from NADMO to the Metropolitan Authorities, the Military, the Police, the Fire Service and other allied institutions have played a crucial role in alleviating the suffering of citizens.
The media, radio and television outlets have become more or less the emergency call centers and most of them have been of very great help to stranded people across the country. An emergency call center has been set up and a national crisis and emergency meeting was convened by the President, details of which should be available soon.
The commiseration of Togolese president and the Ivorian foreign Minister who came in person to join the President visit some of the victims is as neighbourly as it is exemplary even though none wishes another such misfortune as Ghana witnessed.
The wider consolatory messages from home and abroad coupled with corporate initiatives to assuage the pain and distress of victims and families of the twin disasters is also heart warming as much as it is relieving.
National Crisis Meeting: President Addresses the Nation
The President later in the day addressed the nation after a National Crisis Meeting with his Service Commanders. The highlights of the address amongst others were as follows:
a. Government allocated a GHc 50m to cater for relief and humanitarian operations
b. Three days of national mourning (8th – 10th June)
c. An institutional cooperation to coordinate relief and rescue efforts
e. Establishment of a national call center with number 112
f. Flags were to fly at half mast.
Conclusions
A lot has gone on since that tragic day when fire and flood combined to expose our institutions and other authorities whose actions could have lessened the impact of a natural and expected situation as flooding and the unfortunate explosion that claimed precious many lives.
Reasons have been bandied around, experts have spoken at length about what to and what not to do to avoid a repeat. The rains will most likely continue and would be back next year. We just cannot afford to be vultures come next year. One life lost is enough let alone 152. It could be any of us next time.
God bless our homeland Ghana.
Shaban Alfa Abdur Rahman
newcguide@gmail.com
