Mr Fiifi Botwe, Upper West Akyem NADMO boss
The National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) in the Upper West Akyem District of the Eastern Region is planning to raze down dilapidated structures that are on waterways.
This, according to the organisation, is to prevent potential accidents that may be caused by such buildings.
Speaking to the media on the side-lines of this year’s International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction held at Okorase, Samuel Fiifi Botwe, the District NADMO Director, stated that apart from the potential flood the buildings can cause in their area, many of them that are earmarked to be razed down are also in bad state, and can break down at any time to cause havoc to lives and properties.
He stated that the buildings earmarked to be razed down were identified after a hazard mapping of various buildings in the area.
“After our hazard mapping, we realised that many of the buildings are only hanging due to erosions that have washed the soil on which they were built. Others too, you will hardly believe that people live in such places. So we are planning on meeting with Nananom and all stakeholders for their support for us to raze down such buildings,” he said.
He pleaded with occupants and owners of such buildings to abide with NADMO to raze down such buildings to avert potential loss of lives from the imminent collapse of such buildings.
He added that occupants and owners of such buildings would not be compensated, saying the decision to raze down the buildings is a better option, considering the looming disaster that awaits them.
International Day for Disaster Risk reduction
The district NADMO office used the day assigned for risk reduction to educate its community volunteers on the importance of disaster prevention.
Held under the theme “Substantially increase the number of countries with national and local disaster risk reduction strategies by 2022”, the organisation brought together various stakeholders, including the Ghana Police Service, the National Ambulance Service, the National Fire Service, among others, to educate the public on disaster prevention.
