Ghana Preparedness On Flood Hazards In Her Flood Prone Areas

The best practice disaster management model of Ghana is based upon risk reduction and emergency response and using it to evaluate her preparedness, it is evidence that the country is prepared for flood hazards particularly in the national disaster prone area/hotspots.

According to the 2010 National Disaster Management Plan, the government’s action to NADMO (Act 517, 1996)was motivated by the United Nation’s Declaration of 1990-1999 as International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction(UN/IDNDR) which goals were to increase worldwide awareness and to foster disaster prevention and reduce the risks of natural disasters through the widespread application of science and technology. The organisation's mandate includes response to earthquakes, floods and rainstorms, and market fires.

For instance, under risk reduction of the model a national exercise of identifying community vulnerability and risk assessment and documentation has been carried out at different levels nationwide, and ten communities identified as national disaster hotspots for Community Resilient through Early Warning Systems (CREW) project implementation which is currently ongoing at the ten pilot sites selected from the ten regions of Ghana. Under the CREW project, current and future(up to 2050) flood and drought vulnerability, risks and hazards maps had been produced and launched earlier the year and established modern and indigenous based Emergency Operation Centres (EOCs) at National, Regional and pilot Districts levels with installed gauges in order to get better and more detailed data (river flow, rainfall from G-MET) for 24hrs service delivery in the country and while it focuses on the 10 regions, the intention is to scale-up.The constructions of best standard drainage systems current ongoing at the various 10 pilot sites countrywide is part of the project component.

Reference to Dr. Kinsford Asamoah, National CREW Manager in a Volta Basin Authority stakeholders meeting stated that the CREW project focuses on flood and drought with a focus on the UN Hyogo Framework, priorities 2 and 4; knowing the risk and building capacity for early warning whiles NADMO deals with priorities 1, 3 and 5, which makes disaster risk a priority the project is combining both scientific knowledge and indigenous knowledge by its technical working group form various universities, together with key experts from Ghana Meteorological Agency and the Hydrological department.

For the past, there was weak institutional systems for issuing, and communicating early warning system for hazards, such as flood and drought and according UNDP (RFP 2013, pg 14-15) warning an extreme weather event provided with a lead-time of five days or more could have been beneficial for preserving assets and livehood. The then equipment and technical capacity limitations of GMet could not allow them to issue information with significant lead-time. In addition considering that GMet manage to provide such information, it does not necessary mean that at-risk communities would be forewarned of impending hazards. Technical early warning information dissemination agencies, such as NADMO, and to sectorial agencies Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Department of Community Water and Sanitation, to be useful. For example if NADMO today forecast that there will be intense rainfall over the northern regions in a given time period, decision makers can now know what impact would be for people living in areas (eg downstream vs. upstream) or for different livelihood groups (e.g. pastoralist, farmers, miners).

Additionally, empirical evaluation of Ghana today disaster preparedness has shown that translating technical warning information into potential impacts at the local level given NADMO‟s present through its officers and community volunteers together with other relevant agencies that deal with weather and climate-sensitive sectors are now leverage in disseminating such early warning information on flood hazards to the public and national flood prone communities the actual response.

It is time he Civil Society Groups start writing and discussing on disaster issues in national platforms like GTV/GBC for Ghanaians to see the need to acknowledge the fact that NADMO CREW project comes at a very opportune time, and it will be a welcoming news if resource managers motivate and engage EOC syndicates and disaster hotspots communities with routine simulation exercises to increase the lead time as part of scientific uncertainties measures to avoid similar early warning system operational challenges the White Volta suffered where funding issues halted the project developed by a Dutch company (Royal HaskoningDHV). This piece therefore call on the World Bank to extend the support offered Ghana White Volta project to NADMO CREW which is national in character as well as the Volta Basin Authority that have interest in developing an early warning system for flood because the International Atomic Agency has done some groundwater assessment for VBA.

Notwithstanding the above, the National Emergency Respond Team made up of the paramedics such the Red Cross Society, National Ambulance Service, NADMO Search for and Rescue Team, Ghana Armed Forces, Ghana Navy, Ghana Marine Police, Ghana National Fire Service and others is on standby for action in the events of flood hazard as practical evidence of the Ghana Disaster Management Model progress.

National Disaster Management Organisation(NADMO) mandate includes response to earthquakes, floods and rainstorms, and market fires and her policy actions results includes; the NADMO Bill(2015), National Disaster Management Plan(2010), National Nuclear and Radiological Emergency Plan(2010), National Building Guide for Light Loaded Structures in Disaster Prone Areas in Ghana(November 2011), National Relief and Reconstruction Management Plan(2012) and Pandemic Preparedness Manual(2013). Hence as the immediate National Co-ordinator put it “Disaster is everybody business” and current National Co-ordinator also put “Yeji boat capsized event is Ghana Maritime Authority responsibility”.

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SUBMITTED BY: IDDRISU NEINDOW BABA DISASTER MANAGEMENT STUDENT

[email protected] or [email protected] /0207450347 or 0237536323 (whatAspp)

GEOGRAPHY AND REGIONAL PLANNING DEPARTMENT, UNIVERSITY OF CAPE COAST Ghana.