Five Communities in Bongo District Get DRR Tools

By Samuel Akapule

Bongo-SOE — Five disaster prone communities in the Bongo District of the Upper East Region have received Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) tools to help mitigate the incidence of disasters.

The DRR tools, which were presented to the trained Community Based Management Volunteers in the disaster zones in the Bongo District on Thursday, were made up of Life Jackets, Life Bouy Soap, Fire Extinguishers, Shovels and Pick axes, cutlasses, Wheel Barrows, Veronica Buckets, Rescue ropes, bicycles and First Aid kits.

The Bongo District Chief Executive, Peter Ayamga Ayinbisa, commended the Ghana Red Cross Society (GRC) and the Swiss Red Cross (SRC) for coming to the aid of the communities with the tools.

The DCE who stated that the Bongo District was among the disaster prone Districts in the region, indicated that apart from the five disaster prone areas including Ania -Kunkua, Asebga, Atonobugoro, Asebre and Azorsidaana, there were still many communities in the District that were also prone to disaster.

He said that had it not been for the assistance of the Community Based Management Volunteers in the district, trained by the GRCS and its development partners including the SRC and the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), many vulnerable groups in the area, particularly children, women and the aged would have lost their lives during the last raining season as a result of the flooded rivers and streams.

While calling on the Community Based Management Volunteers to use the DRR tools for their intended purposes, the DCE appealed to the communities to desist from practising open defecation and the indiscriminate burning and littering of the environment.

The Paramount Chief of the Bongo Traditional Area, Naba Baba Salifu Aleemyarum Atamale, also impressed upon the volunteers to work hard to justify the confidence reposed in them.

He expressed worry about the indiscriminate felling of trees for sale and charcoal production and warned those engaged in such activities to put a stop to that.

The Regional Manager of the GRCS, Mr Paul Wooma, explained that the presentation of the tools was in fulfillment of the promise his outfit and the SRC made during the training of the Community Preparedness Response Teams last year.

He mentioned that last year the GRCS in collaboration with NADMO, the Forestry Commission and the Ghana Fire Service trained 400 selected community members in Community Disaster Preparedness and Response and mentioned the beneficiary districts as Bongo, Nabdam, Binduri and Kassena-Nankana Municipal Assembly.

The Regional Manager stated that before the training was organised, a baseline survey was conducted with funding from the SRC to establish the disaster prone areas in the above mentioned beneficiary districts.

He called on the government to place more emphasis on disaster prevention.

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