Upper East flood Victims Northern Ghana
260,000 displaced by floods in three northern regions and also hamper transportation
RURAL INTEGRATED RELIEF SERVICE- GHANA
P.O.BOX 1238 KANESHIE ACCRA GHANA
WEST AFRICA
TEL: +233-28-7347621/+233-208912863/21-223661
Fax:+233-21-244367
Email: reliefservice_ghana@yahoo.co.uk
Website: www.reliefservice.pledgepage.org
Emergency items needed:. Food, shelter, medicine, clean drinking water and more including ,tents and blankets
It is now known that about 260,000 people have been affected by the floods in the three northern regions.
The discloser was made at the inauguration of a Reconstruction Committee.
18 people are officially known to have lost their lives in the floods.
Displaced people are being housed in temporary shelters, while some are reported to be putting up with families and friends.
The Committee also revealed that 500 communities in the three northern regions have been affected.
Three bridges in the Wa East District of the Upper West Region have been destroyed by floods, making transportation in the area almost impossible.
One of the bridges is on the Funsi-Wa road, linking Funsi, the District capital to Wa, the Upper West regional capital, while the other two bridges are on the Jumo and Yala-Kundungu roads.
Consequently, this had affected socio-economic activities of people in the affected areas as only motorcycles and bicycles operators could risk riding across the remaining portion of the shaky bridges.
Mr. George Hikah Benson, Upper West Regional Minister visited the affected areas immediately he received a distress call from a Catholic nun, who was stranded with other passengers on their way to Wa from Funsi.
The Regional Minister who was accompanied by Mr Robert Ayalingo, the Regional Police Commander were briefed on the flooding situation by Mr. Joseph Bolibie, the presiding member of the Wa East District Assembly, who is also district director of health services.
Mr. Bolibie said the Funsi Health Centre had recorded many cases of diarrhoea among children since the beginning of the flooding.
He said the collapse of the Jumo and Yala- Kundungu bridges was also making it difficult for sick persons in the affected areas to attend the health centre.
Pick up vehicles that conveyed the Minister and his entourage was used to evacuate some of the passengers, who were stranded to the main road from where they took buses to Wa.
Floods Kill Eight In Northern Region
Eight persons have died in the Northern Region following flooding of some communities in the area due to torrential rains.
The deaths occurred in the Saboba-Chereponi and West Gonja districts.
Damage to property is estimated at Gh¢1 million (¢10 billion). Several acres of farmland, animals and houses were also destroyed by the floods.
The District Chief Executives (DCEs) of some affected districts made this known at a meeting with the Northern Regional Minister, Alhaji Mustapha Ali Iddris, in Tamale at the weekend.
They are Saboba-Chereponi, West and Central Gonja, West Mamprusi, Savelugu-Nanton and Tolon-Kumbungu.
The meeting served as a platform for them to adopt strategies at addressing the situation.
The DCE for Saboba-Chereponi, Mr Azumah Sanda, said six persons died in his district while 840 acres of farmland and 300 houses were destroyed.
“The Saboba-Wapuli, Yendi-Chereponi, and Saboba-Chereponi roads have been rendered impassable as we use canoes to cross to surrounding communities,” he said.
The Tolon-Kumbungu DCE, Mr Wahab Suhiyini Wumbei, said 88 people had been displaced while the Tamale-Nawuni road had been badly damaged.
Mr Wumbei said the District Assembly had mobilised resources and distributed them to the affected people.
The West Gonja DCE, Madam Janet Jambia Alhassan, said two persons died in her district and that the situation at Daboya and Damongo were critical. According to her, most of the communities could be reached only by helicopter.
The situation in the West Mamprusi District was no different as the DCE, Mr Sulemana Nabila, said 1,041 houses had been destroyed and 93 communities inundated by the floods.
According to him, 6,968 people were in dire need of food and other relief items. He said 3,324 acres of farmland had been washed away while 37 wells at Walewale had been polluted.
Mr Nabila said the District Assembly had set aside ¢50 million and 100 bags of cement to distribute to the victims. "We have also procured 100 students' mattresses and I have set up a relief committee to deal with the crisis,” he said.
According to the Central Gonja DCE, Mr Zakaria Yakubu, 36 communities in the district had been affected and over six roads rendered unmotorable while over 50 animals had been washed away by the floods".
The DCE for Savelugu-Nanton expressed great worry about the damage caused by the floods in his district and appealed for support.
The regional minister called on the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) to establish relief depots at strategic points in the country to help provide relief promptly to disaster victims in the future.
Bawku, (UE)- Flood victims in the Upper East Region are to receive relief items worth 1.1 billion cedis as the first line of official support.
Officials of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), who rushed the items to the victims, have expressed the hope that by Saturday 10 billion cedis of relief package would be made available.
Mr. George Isaac Amoo, Co-ordinator of NADMO who accompanied Vice President Alhaji Aliu Mahama to tour some of the affected communities in the Region made this known to journalists.
He said the relief efforts had been hampered by the procurement Act, which slowed down the purchase of the relief items due to the processes involved. Vice President Mahama led the technical team comprising, Ministers of State, officials from NADMO and Ghana Highways Authority (GHA) in an over eight hours comprehensive tour.
The areas included Bawku Municipality, Bawku West, Garu-Tempane, Talensi-Nabdam and Builsa districts. Mr. Peter Dagadu, Director of GHA who accompanied the Vice President said the affected Tamne Bridge linking Garu to the rest of the region as well as Northern region would need a provisional amount of 415 million cedis. The Kulungugu bridge linking Ghana to Burkina Faso would also need 250 million cedis to restore.
Mr. Moses Appiah Abaare, Bawku West District Chief Executive told Vice President Mahama that the district assembly had committed 200 million cedis in relief assistance to the victims, mostly farmers whose crops including sorghum and water melon had been destroyed. He said trees planted along the banks of the Volta River had been destroyed, while the affected farmers, many of whom had secured loans from the commercial banks for the farming season, were in a state of confusion.
Mr. Abaare said the floods were so severe that some victims who took refuge on trees had to be rescued by boats. So far more than 40,000 people have been affected in the region while Bawku West alone has recorded more than 4000 victims.
An estimated 689 houses have collapsed in the area with three fatalities, whilst 6,902 people have been totally displaced. Mr. Alhassan Samari, Regional Minister said the Regional Co-ordinating Council could not handle the situation alone, hence the need for external support.
Vice President Mahama said a high-powered team comprising Ministers and the security agencies had been constituted to tackle the Upper East flood situation. "Government means business and that is why we have to see things for ourselves. I have also brought you hope," he said.
Along the Tamale-Bolgatanga road, one could see the devastating effect of the disaster on human settlements and farms. In the Talensi-Nabdam district, the bridge linking Bolgatanga and its environs was filled to the brim while electricity pylons at Nasia in the Northern Region had been submerged in water.
Vice President Mahama is scheduled to visit the Tono Irrigation Project also affected by the torrential rains Wednesday morning, as well as Tolong-Kumbungu and Buipe in the Northern Region, where a number of people have been affected by the rising levels of tributaries of the Volta River that feed the Akosombo hydro-electric dam.
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RURAL INTEGRATED RELIEF SERVICE- GHANA
P.O.BOX 1238 KANESHIE ACCRA GHANA
WEST AFRICA
TEL: +233-28-7347621/+233-208912863/21-223661
Fax:+233-21-244367
Email: reliefservice_ghana@yahoo.co.uk
Website: www.reliefservice.pledgepage.org
Emergency items needed:. Food, shelter, medicine, clean drinking water and more including ,tents and blankets
It is now known that about 260,000 people have been affected by the floods in the three northern regions.
The discloser was made at the inauguration of a Reconstruction Committee.
18 people are officially known to have lost their lives in the floods.
Displaced people are being housed in temporary shelters, while some are reported to be putting up with families and friends.
The Committee also revealed that 500 communities in the three northern regions have been affected.
Three bridges in the Wa East District of the Upper West Region have been destroyed by floods, making transportation in the area almost impossible.
One of the bridges is on the Funsi-Wa road, linking Funsi, the District capital to Wa, the Upper West regional capital, while the other two bridges are on the Jumo and Yala-Kundungu roads.
Consequently, this had affected socio-economic activities of people in the affected areas as only motorcycles and bicycles operators could risk riding across the remaining portion of the shaky bridges.
Mr. George Hikah Benson, Upper West Regional Minister visited the affected areas immediately he received a distress call from a Catholic nun, who was stranded with other passengers on their way to Wa from Funsi.
The Regional Minister who was accompanied by Mr Robert Ayalingo, the Regional Police Commander were briefed on the flooding situation by Mr. Joseph Bolibie, the presiding member of the Wa East District Assembly, who is also district director of health services.
Mr. Bolibie said the Funsi Health Centre had recorded many cases of diarrhoea among children since the beginning of the flooding.
He said the collapse of the Jumo and Yala- Kundungu bridges was also making it difficult for sick persons in the affected areas to attend the health centre.
Pick up vehicles that conveyed the Minister and his entourage was used to evacuate some of the passengers, who were stranded to the main road from where they took buses to Wa.
Floods Kill Eight In Northern Region
Eight persons have died in the Northern Region following flooding of some communities in the area due to torrential rains.
The deaths occurred in the Saboba-Chereponi and West Gonja districts.
Damage to property is estimated at Gh¢1 million (¢10 billion). Several acres of farmland, animals and houses were also destroyed by the floods.
The District Chief Executives (DCEs) of some affected districts made this known at a meeting with the Northern Regional Minister, Alhaji Mustapha Ali Iddris, in Tamale at the weekend.
They are Saboba-Chereponi, West and Central Gonja, West Mamprusi, Savelugu-Nanton and Tolon-Kumbungu.
The meeting served as a platform for them to adopt strategies at addressing the situation.
The DCE for Saboba-Chereponi, Mr Azumah Sanda, said six persons died in his district while 840 acres of farmland and 300 houses were destroyed.
“The Saboba-Wapuli, Yendi-Chereponi, and Saboba-Chereponi roads have been rendered impassable as we use canoes to cross to surrounding communities,” he said.
The Tolon-Kumbungu DCE, Mr Wahab Suhiyini Wumbei, said 88 people had been displaced while the Tamale-Nawuni road had been badly damaged.
Mr Wumbei said the District Assembly had mobilised resources and distributed them to the affected people.
The West Gonja DCE, Madam Janet Jambia Alhassan, said two persons died in her district and that the situation at Daboya and Damongo were critical. According to her, most of the communities could be reached only by helicopter.
The situation in the West Mamprusi District was no different as the DCE, Mr Sulemana Nabila, said 1,041 houses had been destroyed and 93 communities inundated by the floods.
According to him, 6,968 people were in dire need of food and other relief items. He said 3,324 acres of farmland had been washed away while 37 wells at Walewale had been polluted.
Mr Nabila said the District Assembly had set aside ¢50 million and 100 bags of cement to distribute to the victims. "We have also procured 100 students' mattresses and I have set up a relief committee to deal with the crisis,” he said.
According to the Central Gonja DCE, Mr Zakaria Yakubu, 36 communities in the district had been affected and over six roads rendered unmotorable while over 50 animals had been washed away by the floods".
The DCE for Savelugu-Nanton expressed great worry about the damage caused by the floods in his district and appealed for support.
The regional minister called on the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) to establish relief depots at strategic points in the country to help provide relief promptly to disaster victims in the future.
Bawku, (UE)- Flood victims in the Upper East Region are to receive relief items worth 1.1 billion cedis as the first line of official support.
Officials of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), who rushed the items to the victims, have expressed the hope that by Saturday 10 billion cedis of relief package would be made available.
Mr. George Isaac Amoo, Co-ordinator of NADMO who accompanied Vice President Alhaji Aliu Mahama to tour some of the affected communities in the Region made this known to journalists.
He said the relief efforts had been hampered by the procurement Act, which slowed down the purchase of the relief items due to the processes involved. Vice President Mahama led the technical team comprising, Ministers of State, officials from NADMO and Ghana Highways Authority (GHA) in an over eight hours comprehensive tour.
The areas included Bawku Municipality, Bawku West, Garu-Tempane, Talensi-Nabdam and Builsa districts. Mr. Peter Dagadu, Director of GHA who accompanied the Vice President said the affected Tamne Bridge linking Garu to the rest of the region as well as Northern region would need a provisional amount of 415 million cedis. The Kulungugu bridge linking Ghana to Burkina Faso would also need 250 million cedis to restore.
Mr. Moses Appiah Abaare, Bawku West District Chief Executive told Vice President Mahama that the district assembly had committed 200 million cedis in relief assistance to the victims, mostly farmers whose crops including sorghum and water melon had been destroyed. He said trees planted along the banks of the Volta River had been destroyed, while the affected farmers, many of whom had secured loans from the commercial banks for the farming season, were in a state of confusion.
Mr. Abaare said the floods were so severe that some victims who took refuge on trees had to be rescued by boats. So far more than 40,000 people have been affected in the region while Bawku West alone has recorded more than 4000 victims.
An estimated 689 houses have collapsed in the area with three fatalities, whilst 6,902 people have been totally displaced. Mr. Alhassan Samari, Regional Minister said the Regional Co-ordinating Council could not handle the situation alone, hence the need for external support.
Vice President Mahama said a high-powered team comprising Ministers and the security agencies had been constituted to tackle the Upper East flood situation. "Government means business and that is why we have to see things for ourselves. I have also brought you hope," he said.
Along the Tamale-Bolgatanga road, one could see the devastating effect of the disaster on human settlements and farms. In the Talensi-Nabdam district, the bridge linking Bolgatanga and its environs was filled to the brim while electricity pylons at Nasia in the Northern Region had been submerged in water.
Vice President Mahama is scheduled to visit the Tono Irrigation Project also affected by the torrential rains Wednesday morning, as well as Tolong-Kumbungu and Buipe in the Northern Region, where a number of people have been affected by the rising levels of tributaries of the Volta River that feed the Akosombo hydro-electric dam.
Send your Donations