International Day of Disaster Reduction marked at Doba

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The Ghana Red Cross Society (GRCS) in the Upper East Region has held a durbar at Doba, a community in the Kassena-Nankana Municipality, to mark this year’s International Day for Disaster Reduction.

The durbar, organised with support from the Swiss Red Cross Society, was intended to sensitize the citizenry on the need to build strong houses and plant trees to serve as useful barriers.

This year’s International Day of Disaster Reduction was held under the theme: “Reduce disaster damage to critical infrastructure and disruption of basic services”.

The Day focused on efforts being made by members of the public and communities around the world to help reduce the exposure to disasters.

The Swiss Red Cross Society is implementing the Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) in Kassena-Nankana Municipality, the Nabdam, Bongo and Binduri districts of the Region; and it is intended to build the capacities of citizens and equip them with useful tools to respond to emergencies in their communities.

Mr Paul Wooma, the Upper East Regional Director of the GRCS, called on government to pay attention to the construction of schools and Community-Based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) compounds to ensure they were built to withstand the dangers of floods and windstorms.

Mr David Mba, the Upper East Deputy Regional Director of the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO), said the Region has experienced continuous rainfall for about a week with floods occurring in some parts of the area.

He said the recent rains has led to “houses being destroyed and many losing their livelihoods,” adding that current records indicate that the Navrongo Municipality has lost two lives.

Mr Mba said the Regional NADMO is yet to compile the records about the state of deaths in the Region and appealed to the GRCS to support NADMO with the needed logistics to help affected communities.

As part of activities to commemorate the day, a tree was planted at the palace of the chief of Doba to signify and create awareness on the importance of trees in the society.

The International Day of Disaster Reduction is celebrated annually on October 13.

GNA