18 flood victims identified

Thursday, July 1, 2010

THE National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) has released the identities of the 18 people who lost their lives in the Greater Accra Region during the June 20 flood disaster.
The deceased, comprising nine males and nine females, and their ages, ranging between 18 months and 58 years, lost their lives in the floods at Ashaiman and Adentan.
A list made available to the Daily Graphic by the Greater Accra Regional Co-ordinator of NADMO, Mr Winfred Nomotey Tesia, included Nana Abban, 22; Alhaji Kasum, 55, and three members of one household — Mariatu Issa, 12; Abubakari Issa, 15, and Yusif Issa, six.
Another set of three victims who belonged to the same household were Nelson Tsogbe, 24; Janet Odoom, nine, and Cynthia Odoom, six.
Others were Safianu Ibrahim, 35; Billy Tsinasi, 58; Philip K. Adatsi, 41; Hamzalatu Tuani, three; Dzigbordi Amenu, Yawa Azalekor, 18 months, and Esinam Azalekor, 28.
The rest were Samuel Kunto, 36; Aisha Mohammed, 30, and Janet Nsenkyire, five.
The list also contained the next of kin of the deceased, as well as their contact addresses.
Briefing the Daily Graphic, Mr Tesia said the Rapid Response Team of NADMO and officers and men of the 48 Engineers Regiment and the Tema Police Command worked tirelessly on the day of the floods to save lives and property.
He said throughout the about eight-hour rains and after, the team rescued persons trapped from drowning and injury.
“We retrieved dead bodies, comforted displaced persons and consoled bereaved families,” he stressed.
He indicated that the team searched for missing persons and those who were displaced were registered, after which they were provided with some relief items.
As part of the rescue operation, the co-ordinator said, 110 people were evacuated from their homes at Tema New Town, 227 from flooded homes at Tema Community Five and 175 from Pokuase.
“We retrieved 13 dead bodies from under the Jericho Bridge, Lebanon and Roman Down at Ashaiman and also retrieved and identified five dead bodies at Adentan,” he indicated.
He said 110 people were sheltered at the Naval Base and 227 at the Stanley School, both in Tema.
Mr Tesia said the most affected areas were the Ashaiman municipality, the Tema metropolis, the Ga West municipality, the Dangme West District and the Adentan municipality.
In addition to the 18 individuals who lost their lives, 4,924 people were displaced.
He said relief items allocated to the displaced people were rice, beans, maize, soap, mats, cups, plates, buckets, basins and mattresses.
In a related development, some victims of the floods in the Ashaiman municipality have accused the Ashaiman Municipal Assembly of insensitivity to their plight, reports Della Russel Ocloo.
They claimed that 13 days after the torrential rains had displaced more than 3,000 people and caused 17 deaths in the municipality, the assembly was yet to provide the needed logistics to ease the plight of the victims.
The victims also accused the assembly of bias and threatened to embark on a demonstration should the situation persist for another week.
A victim, Maame Esi Sarpong, told the Daily Graphic that neither NADMO nor officials of the assembly had visited them, after the assembly had taken inventory of their damaged property, registered them and taken their particulars.
“The only assistance we have received so far is one ‘Olonka’ tin of rice and an eight-inch mattress, although our household comprises about 50 people,” another victim, Mr Winfred Kumassah, said.
Mr Thomas Adongo, the Assembly Member for the Obakatse (Roman Down) Electoral Area of the Ashaiman municipality, where a greater number of casualties were recorded, said he would support any demonstration by the victims and questioned why a household of between 50-70 people should be given only one mattress.
The Assembly Member for the Asensu Electoral Area, Mr Abdul Aziz Suleiman, indicated that the only assistance victims in his area had received was a donation of 80 bags of rice and quantities of cooking oil made available by the Member of Parliament for Assin North, Mr Kennedy Agyapong.
He accused the Ashaiman Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Numo Addison Adinortey, of not being proactive as the political head of the municipality, questioning why there had not been any effort on his part to collaborate with the Ghana Health Service (GHS) to install mobile clinics in the community to cater for the health needs of the people.
“My sister, I can tell you for a fact that apart from the clearing of the debris by Zoomlion, which the assembly co-ordinated, little has been done to protect and cater for the displaced, some of whom have started contracting communicable diseases owing to shortage of water to the community,” Mr Suleiman lamented.
Mr Adinortey was very evasive when contacted on telephone and asked about the individual displaced persons who had complained of neglect.
He noted that the assembly had given enough support to NADMO to cater for the victims and urged them to remain patient as the assembly made efforts to resettle them.
“We intend holding a press conference in the coming days to tell the whole world the level of assistance we have provided so far,” he noted.
Mr Adinortey would, however, not comment on the assembly’s approved budget.