Ghana not prepared for earthquake – expert warns
If an earthquake were to occur in Ghana today, the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) will only carry dead bodies, Mr Joseph Ankrah, Schedule Officer for Geological Disasters, told Public Agenda on Friday.
According to the Officer, Ghana is not prepared for an earthquake. "We are not ready at all and when it happens NADMO will only carry dead bodies."
He was speaking to Public Agenda in an interview on Ghana's preparedness for an earthquake in the wake of last Tuesday's earthquake that rocked the Caribbean country of Haiti.
The earthquake in Haiti, which measured about 7.0 on the ritcher scale, caused the collapse of dozens of buildings and killed tens of thousands of people, international media, officials and witnesses have said.
In Ghana, there is threat of an imminent earthquake rocking the Southern parts especially along the coast. But the capacity of Ghana to contain even an earthquake of a lesser magnitude than that which occurred in Haiti is in doubt.
He said that an earthquake of a 6.5 magnitude will cause greater havoc in Ghana.
In Haiti, witnesses reported seeing dead bodies lying on the street and hearing cries for help in the impoverished and crowded capital of Port-au-Prince, located just 10 miles North West of the earthquake's epicenter, according to the U.S. Geological survey. According to Haitian officials, this particular earthquake is the strongest in more than two centuries.
It is argued that Ghana is located well clear of the major earthquake zones of the earth. Nonetheless, Ghana has had its fair share of earthquakes. There have been damaging earthquakes in 1615, 1636, 1862, 1906 and 1939. It was recorded, for example, that in 1615 an earthquake destroyed what was then known as Takoradi.
In 1636, an earthquake occurred in Axim and the whole of East Nzema was badly shaken. It caused a widespread collapse of buildings in that area. A gold mine in Aboasi, northeast of Axim was reported to have collapsed, burying many of the miners.
The 1939 earthquake in Ghana which registered 6.5 on the ritcher scale took the lives of 17 people and properties worth one million British Pounds were destroyed.
Additionally, the country had experienced smaller ones in1997 and 2003 with the most recent being in 2005.
In more recent times, Weija, Accra, Ho, Axim, Elmina, and Cape Coast have been mentioned as some of the earthquake prone areas. But Mr. Ankrah pointed out that any location within 50-kilometer radius of an earthquake prone area is at risk. "Let's not limit it; nobody is safe in Accra."
According to him, people living in low-lying areas, reclaimed lands and hills are at particular risk.
In the past, Mr. Philip Yaw Oduro Amoako, a Geologist with NADMO, warned that "those living in the Southern part of Ghana should always prepare against an imminent earthquake, it could happen any time, but as to the exact day and time nobody can tell”.
Experts say that buildings with arches without any support are likely to collapse in the event of an earthquake and this should be avoided in these areas. But the current building regulations in Ghana do not take cognisance of seismic disasters. It is understood that NADMO will pile more pressure for a review of the building regulations.
Meanwhile, it will help residents in earthquake prone areas to seek advice from structural engineers when putting up buildings in order to meet earthquake resistance specifications. During a visit to Weija and its environs on Friday by Public Agenda's team, it was observed that developers in these areas were still putting up high rise buildings on hills, landfill areas and low-lying areas.