Government urged to establish National Disaster Fund
Mr Ebenezer Dosoo, Deputy National Coordinator of the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO), has called for the immediate establishment of the National Disaster Fund to carter for disaster issues.
He said the fund that would be similar to the GETFUND, could be used to procure relief items and other logistics support to be periodically shared among district assemblies for disaster management.
Mr Dosoo made the call at a three-day Disaster Risk Reduction Refresher training workshop for staff and partners of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana at Abokobi in the Greater Region.
The workshop was organized by the Presbyterian Relief Services and Development (PRS&D) and sponsored by Inter Church Cooperation Organization (ICCO).
About 150 participants from Presbyteries across the country and officials of NADMO attended.
He said the fund would be an effective tool to stop incessant pressure of monetary and material assistance on the Central Government and NADMO to release relief items to disaster victims.
“All the time NADMO headquarters come under intense pressure from regional ministers and district chief executives to provide mattress, rice, sugar and other support to disaster victims.
According to him, NADMO had identified seven major hazard areas nationwide that could cause havoc to human beings and properties.
Mr Dosoo said the NADMO has in this regard trained disaster volunteers in all the districts throughout the country to educate the people about the dangers of these hazards.
Reverend Daniel Oppong-Wereko, Executive Director of PRS&D, said the risk of disaster had been with mankind since creation and that most of them were through the activities of human beings.
He said the workshop was to equip the participants to play their part well to propagate the good news about disaster risk reduction.
Mr Emmanuel Ankamah, Coordinator of PRS&D, expressed the hope that the participants would go back to their various communities to educate the people on what they have learnt.
He called on them to identify hazard areas in their communities to enable PRS&D to prepare action plan towards their effective management.
Source: GNA