Floods destroy farmlands in Upper Region

The National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) reports that 12,220.7 hectares of farmlands have been destroyed by the recent floods that hit the Upper Region.

A loss of 13,885.5 metric tonnes - of foodstuffs was also recorded.

Additionally, the floods resulted in damage to 29 roads under the Ghana Highway Authority, the total length of which came to 427.4 kilometres.

Fifty-four feeder roads across the region with a total length of 542 kilometres and 58 bridges and culverts were either destroyed or partially destroyed.

The Upper East Regional Minister, Mr Alhassan Samari, made this known on Tuesday in Bolgatanga at the opening session of a three-day workshop on emergency management for staff of NADMO in the region as well as other stakeholders in disaster management.

The workshop was intended to build the capacity of the NADMO staff and other stakeholders for greater co-ordination in responding to emergencies.

The regional minister said other aspects of socio-economic life,such as health, housing, water and sanitation had also been affected - by the floods.

Aside from the floods, he said, the region continued to experience other forms of disasters such as domestic and bush fires, road accidents, rainstorms, which continued to impede the region's efforts towards development.

Mr Samari expressed the conviction that the participants would actively participate in brainstorming towards finding solutions to forestall or mitigate the devastating effects of disasters in the region, and the country as a whole.

The regional minister thanked the government, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and donor agencies that financially contributed to enable the Regional Co-ordinating Council (RCC) to alleviate the suffering of the flood victims.

In a welcoming address, the Upper East Regional Co-ordinator of the NADMO, Mr Anderson Anarfo Nabia, said the government's budgetary allocation for NADMO was inadequate and called for multilateral support to supplement their budget.

Explaining the rationale behind the workshop, the Deputy National "Coordinator of NADMO in charge of Finance and Administration, Dr Kwaku Osei Akom, pointed out that the workshop was designed to equip the participants to effectively manage disasters in the region.