Ghana spends GH¢200m on disaster management in two years

The National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) said the country spent GH¢200 million on disaster management in 2011 and 2012.

Mr Japhet Baidoo, Western Regional Co-ordinator of NADMO, said this at a day’s consultative workshop on Community Resilience through Early Warning (CREW) project in Takoradi.

He said NADMO used the money for the provision of relief items for disaster victims ranging from flooding, drought, fire outbreaks, landslides, as well as man-made mishaps in 2011 and 2012.

In view of this, he said NADMO, in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), was undertaking a three-year project on early warning systems with focus on flood and drought disasters.

Dr Kingsford Asamoah, Project Manager of CREW, said the project was being funded by the Norwegian Government, adding that the project implementers would initially identify 10 top flood and drought prone-districts across the country for a pilot project.

“We will, therefore, carry out in-depth risk assessment in these areas, assess the early warning gaps and needs in those hotspots, and design a scientific-based and people-centered disaster early warning system for them,” he said.

Explaining the rationale for the consultative workshop, Dr Asamoah said the project implementers needed to formally introduce and inform regional stakeholders regarding the CREW project.

In addition, it had to build partnership amongst key regional stakeholders, validate baseline data on disaster in the region for monitoring and evaluation, and also choose tentative sites for disaster risk reduction and early warning system.

The programme brought together representatives from the Ghana Meteorological Service, Hydraulic Service, Ghana National Fire Service, Ghana Red Cross Society, Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Regional Coordinating Council, National Commission for Civic Education, Civil Society Organisations and the media.

Source: GNA