The National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) last Friday, August 11, released some relief items for distribution to victims of last Wednesday’s torrential rain in the North East Region.
Hundreds of the inhabitants have been displaced as dozens of houses destroyed and farmlands submerged in many parts of the region.
The floods cutoff the Walewale-Nalerigu highway which is currently being rehabilitated coupled with several other bridges carried away leaving commuters stranded as the roads has become unmotorable for days now.
The Director General of NADMO, Eric Nana Agyemang Prempeh, on Friday handed over some relief items to the North East Regional Minister, Yidana Zakaria and the Member of Parliament for Walewale, Hajia Lariba Zuweira Abudu, for onward distribution to the victims.
In his remarks, the Director General on behalf of the government commiserated with the affected families for the great loss.
“Few days ago, we received report that the Chiefs and people of North East Region have hit with a major disaster – the major ones were the fact bridges have been washed away and some people have also been affected, the affected victims are staying in safe havens with their families among other things. So, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia and the government took a decision that we respond immediately, so we’re here on behalf of the government to commiserate with the people” he said.
He said personnel of NADMO are also on the ground to assess the situation and the extend of harm caused by the disaster and assured appropriate measures will be taken support the victims.
He noted a lot more relief items will be transported in various quantities to the area in the coming days all in the effort to cushion the people.
“The items you’re seeing is not the only items the government is bringing to the people of the North East Region, there are a lot of items but because of the emergency situation, the Ghana Air Force assisted NADMO and we’ve been able to bring a lot of disaster relief items to Tamale airport; so the Air Force with the helicopter will bring them in bits from tomorrow and other vehicles are also bringing some items from Accra” he stated.
Nana Agyemang said the relevant stakeholders in the region will collaborate for the items to be distributed to the victims who particularly in need.
The North East Regional Minister, Mr. Yidana Zakaria, on behalf of the Chiefs and people expressed their gratitude to the government for the swift response to alleviate the suffering of the victims.
The Minister intimated that the swift response and nature of support by the government shows that the President and the Vice President have soft spot for humanity and they have also demonstrated their commitment and readiness to mitigate predicament of the populace.
“The response is so swift. Just three days ago that the incident happened, yesterday the contractors were there to start work, the media were there to carry the message across and today the Director General has come from Accra, airlifted some relief items and has brought them to us, this shows that we have a President and Vice President who have a soft spot for humanity.”
Meanwhile, the Walewale Member of Parliament, Hajia Lariba Zuweira Abudu, who doubles the Minister for Gender, Children and Social who also commended the government for the timely intervention said the situation is a major disaster that require the intervention of everybody to complement the efforts of the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) and the government to salvage the people from this predicament.
The lawmaker earlier visited the affected communities and the Walewale-Nalerigu road which is being rehabilitated presently to assess the extent of damage caused and urged some of the residents to relocate to safe areas.
