Reach out to flood victims — Portuphy (Page 35)

THE National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) has described the current flood situation in Accra and other parts of the country as a national crisis that calls for all Ghanaians to reach out to the victims.
The National Co-ordinator of the organisation, Mr Kofi Portuphy, told the Daily Graphic at the headquarters of NADMO in Accra that the flood situation was getting out of hand by the day.
He said since not all the victims played any role in getting their places of abode flooded, there was the need for the rest of the population to support them.
The NADMO co-ordinator also took the opportunity to appeal to organisations to assist the victims in all possible ways.
This came in the wake of frequent downpour, which began on June 19, 2009, in the western part of Accra, which caused seven deaths and caused damage to property worth millions of Ghana cedis.
Since then, Accra and other parts of country, including Kumasi, Tema, Sekondi-Takoradi, Keta, Ada and Damongo continued to experience heavy floods.
Mr Portuphy said NADMO was overwhelmed by the level of damage the rain had caused, adding that with more rains expected, it was important that stringent measures were taken to reduce the effects.
A summary of data on the flood which occurred in the western part of Accra on June 19, 2009 showed that about 6,969 people within 363 households were affected in three sub-metropolitan areas.
He said the situation had forced the organisation to concentrate more on rescue operations to the detriment of distribution of relief items, since they had a limited number of personnel.
He cited incidences when officials on their way to distribute items had to abandon the exercise and rush to rescue people trapped in flooded houses or collapsed buildings with the support of personnel from the 48 Engineers Regiment of the Ghana Armed Forces.
To help solve the problem in Accra, the government is reported to have released GH¢2.5 million to cover the construction, expansion and extension of drains, as well as clearing of silt from both major and minor drains to allow the free flow of water when it rains.