|
Government to adopt plan to reconstruct flood affected
areas
Accra, Oct. 8, Ghanadot/GNA - Government is finalising a
multi-sectoral strategic plan that would focus on water
resources, social infrastructure, agriculture, health and
environment to help reconstruct the four regions affected by
the flood.
Mr. Kwamena Bartels, Minister of the Interior, said this in
Accra on Monday at a Briefing Session for Diplomatic Corps
on the flood situation in Upper East, Upper West, Northern
and Western regions.
He noted that the success of the plan would, however, depend
on support from the international community and donor
agencies.
"We are faced with a disaster and what is even worrying is
the fact that successful recovery from this situation is
definitely going to be a difficult task.
"The victims want action now and I hope you will bring this
to the attention of your governments and the leadership of
your organisations for them to support us as a matter of
urgency.”
Giving a statistical update on the disaster, Mr Bartels said
56 deaths had been recorded so far. He said 31 occurred in
Upper East, 15 in the Northern Region, 10 in Upper East, but
no death was recorded in the Western Region.
According to him 341,360 persons were displaced - 100,703 in
the Upper East, 28,812 in Northern Region, 3,033 in the
Upper West and 8,812 in the Western region.
Over 34,878 houses, the Minister said, had been destroyed.
Upper East Region recorded 15,069; Northern Region had
18,167; Upper West recorded 1,100 while 582 houses were
destroyed in the Western Region.
He said a total of 131 trunk and feeder roads with a total
length of 1,510 kilometres had been damaged whereas 70
bridges and culverts were also affected. Some 70,526
hectares with the production potential of 144,430 metric
tonnes were also affected.
Mr Bartels noted that Government had so far approved 610,000
Ghana cedis (6.1 billion cedis) for the acquisition of
additional emergency relief items to supplement the National
Disaster Management Organisation's (NADMO) Strategic
Reserve.
He stated that Government in collaboration with the UN
system has instituted various monitoring mechanisms to
evaluate the effectiveness of the disaster management
strategy, adding that government with the assistance of the
National Union of Ghana Students would also conduct an
assessment to ascertain effectiveness of the relief
assistance.
Mr Bartels commended the Japanese, Spanish, British,
Italian, Korean, German, American, Australian, Chinese,
Egyptian, French governments and the UN systems and other
donor agencies for supporting the victims.
Dr Charles Yaw Brempong-Yeboah, Deputy Minister for Foreign
Affairs, Regional Cooperation and NEPAD, said although
natural disasters were unavoidable, the nature and response
given to them were crucial to reduce and prevent future
occurrence.
He said disasters undermined development investments in the
short term and remained a major impediment to sustainable
development and poverty reduction.
"We must now focus on the victims, especially those living
and how to address their immediate needs as well as provide
them with support for the long term."
Dr Brempong-Yeboah noted that Government would build
resilience on disasters through people centred early warning
systems, education and other proactive programmes.
Mrs Mary Chinery Hesse, Chief Adviser to the President and
Chairperson for the Inter-Ministerial Task Force, called for
a paradigm shift in the approach of development, especially
in the regions in the north in order to forestall future
occurrences.
She said the government should also come out with a
well-structured recovery programme that would provide
alternative livelihood for the victims in order to sustain
their lives.
Mrs Chinery-Hesse said there was also the need to empower
the people at the district level through the development of
district development plans to address the human settlement
and social infrastructure needs peculiar to them.
Mr Daouda Toure, UN Resident Coordinator, urged government
to fashion out long-term development prospects, not only for
the northern part but the country as a whole.
He said the UN had mobilised 2.5 million dollars to assist
in its humanitarian and other relief response programmes.
He commended Government for providing a forum that would
enable the diplomatic corps to engage in debates that would
help solve the crisis.
GNA
|
