Ghana celebrates World Defence Day

The National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) has marked this year’s World Civil Defence Day with a call on all civil society organisations and emergency services to actively involve themselves in rescue missions.

The day, celebrated on every March 1, under the auspices of the International Civil Defence Organization (ICDO), provides the platform to raise awareness of the need to prepare for and prevent disasters.

It is a day set aside to highlight the importance of Civil Defence or Protection; that is physical and social protection for all citizens at work, schools, homes and all other places in the country.

This year’s event is on the theme “Civil Protection and Preparation of Civil Societies for Disaster Risk Prevention. It also serves as a platform to acknowledge the important and central role played by civil society organizations in times of disasters as well as community preparedness to respond to them.

This was contained in statement signed by Mr Kofi Portuphy, National Coordinator of NADMO issued to the Ghana News Agency on Friday, in Accra.

Mr. Nawaf Al-Sleibi, Secretary-General of the ICDO said “civic organizations are like a train carrying passengers of different social strata, including the rich and the poor, the educated and the illiterate, the worker and the non-worker, the farmer and the industrial worker, the elderly and the young."

"This combination, provided that we listen to it carefully and provide it with a proper environment, will be easy to unite for the sake of a common goal, consisting of building a safe community, ready to respond to any kind of emergency”.

In recent years, the world has witnessed many different and complex disasters ranging from natural and man-made disasters to humanitarian crisis, and Ghana is no exception- as it’s had its fair share of disasters, ranging from road accidents to devastating floods and fires and the most recent being the collapse of a multi-storey building (Melcom – Achimota Branch) which claimed lives and injured a lot of people.

The statement said in all these crises situations; civil defence and civil protection organizations as well as emergency services in the country were available to ensure the protection of a nation, its people, properties and the environment.

It said despite the challenges, such as inadequate resources, organizations like the military with its medical team, the police service, the national fire service, the national ambulance and St. John’s Ambulance services and the various community disaster volunteer groups did not hesitate to provide substantial services during these events.

Studies and field experiences however have indicated that civil defence and emergency services, regardless the amount of strength, resources and diligent planning made available to them, cannot by themselves alone ensure the protection of nations, its population and properties. Hence the need for recruiting, training and preparing volunteers at the various levels to help build safer homes and communities.

“We also salute the heroes and heroines of civil society organisations and emergency services that met their untimely death, got injured or wounded while responding to disasters in Ghana and other parts of the world”, the statement said.