Resettlement and Reconstruction suspended

The Mirror, Saturday, November 17, 2007. Page 31

Story: Benjamin Xornam Glover, Sandema
Reconstruction of partially and completely collapsed mud and thatch houses in the flood hit areas of Sandema and other communities in the in the Builsa District has been put on hold till after the harvesting period.
Currently, displaced persons are putting up with friends while a few others have put up temporal structures with the view of receiving assistance from the government and other donors to reconstruct their homes.
This came to light when The Mirror conducted a tour of the area over the weekend, two months after the natural disaster hit the area.
Heavy torrential rains on the 24th and 25th of August this year caused floods throughout the Upper East Region and almost all the Districts in the Region were hit by the disaster as a result of the torrential rains, which hit the area.. The situation was aggravated by the opening of the spillway of the Bagre Dam in neighbouring Burkina Faso.
In the Builsa District official records have it that six persons lost their lives while a total of 5,052 houses collapsed. 15,000 people were rendered homeless while 6,000 hectares of farmlands were destroyed. About 2,180 tonnes of foodstuffs were destroyed while 27 bridges as well as 21 road network were damaged in the Sandema area Also destroyed are several hundreds of hectares of farmland, roads and bridges. Prominent among the collapsed bridges are the Kulungugu bridge on the Bawku-Burkina Faso main road, which links Ghana with neighbouring countries in the hinterland and the Tamne bridge on the Garu- Bawku road.
Following the disaster, the governments declared the region, as well as the Northern and Upper West Regions as disaster zone, while appeals were made to Government, charitable organizations, religious bodies and non-governmental organizations to make available emergency relief aid to victims of the floods in the region.
Based on these appeals, tonnnes of relief items including food and noon –food items have been pouring into region. While some people clamed they have had their fair share of the items, many other are contending that the items have not reached them.
During my rounds in the Sandema and its neighbouring communities over the weekend some locals were of the opinion that rebuilding of houses that collapse during the floods has not started, A few were of the opinion that rather than concentrating their energies on rebuilding, they prefer to give attention to salvaging what is left on their farms mainly groundnuts to feed themselves and their families.
“Basically the resources are not available to enable us reconstruct our houses and it will be appreciated if the government could come to our aid with cement and roofing sheets to enable us build firmer homes” Simon Atuk told this reporter.
Others who also spoke to the Daily Graphic said they were yet to receive any relief items from the government and related agencies. They said the items that they have received were from NGOs and religious organizations.