Social Disaster Storm

Upper East Minister Appeals for Support for Disaster Victims. Navrongo (U/E), April 1, GNA- The Upper East Regional Minister, Mr. Mahami Salifu on Thursday appealed to individuals and organizations to come to the aid of displaced victims of a rainstorm, which hit some parts of the region on Monday.

The appeal stems from the fact that the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) in the region has no capacity to give the required relief to the disaster victims, most of who had the roofs of their houses ripped off during the storm.

In Navrongo town where the Minister inspected affected structures to assess the situation, the storm had ripped off about 15 houses, destroyed foodstuff and damaged some of the structures thereby displacing a number of households. Most of the displaced persons were putting up with friends and relations.

The Minister said the magnitude of the situation demands additional support from NGOs, because government alone could not immediately address the needs of the victims. He urged philanthropists and NGOs to come to the aid of the victims with relief such as food, clothing and roofing sheets to enable them to rehabilitate the affected structures.

Mr. Salifu noted that, most of the structures were weak because they had been built long ago and had seen little renovations, and there was the need to take serious measures to mitigate such phenomena in future.

In Bolgatanga, several structures were affected, most of which were public structures, kiosks and houses. The Regional Health Directorate is among the worse affected institutions with the roofs of seven of its semi-detached Low Cost Houses (LCH), a Junior Staff Quarters at Zaare and a bungalow at Soe ripped off, while most of them had structural damages. The Family Planning block at the Bolgatanga Hospital was also damaged.

The Regional Director of NADMO, Mr. Anderson Anaphor-Nabia, who accompanied the Regional Minister to inspect the damaged structures in Bolgatanga said 53 compound houses were affected by the storm, with 260 people displaced. He mentioned the Bolga-Soe Primary School, the District Police Station, the Atulbabisi Nursery, Plaza Square, the Kongo JSS as well as the Zanlerigu Nursery as some of the public institutions affected. Mr. Anaphor-Nabia said under the current circumstances, if immediate assistance is not obtained from collaborating agencies, the plight of the people could worsen.