NADMO, VRA ON THE MOVE...To prevent disaster in 3 northern regions (Tuesday August 19, 2008 LEAD STORY)

THE National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) and the Volta River Authority (VRA) have moved personnel and logistics to the three northern regions to help evacuate residents who have ignored warnings of imminent danger of the opening of the floodgates of the Bagre Dam in Burkina Faso on Thursday.
This follows confirmation from the authorities in Burkina Faso that the Bagre Dam will be opened on Thursday, to spill water that threatens to collapse the dam.
It is predicted that the opening of the floodgates will lead to heavy floods that could endanger the lives and property of people living around the White and Black Volta rivers in the northern parts of Ghana.
Some of the high risk areas are Binduri, Sapelliga, Nafgolika Vakop, Gogo, Saaka, Bazua and Pwalugu.
In separate endeavours over the weekend, officials of the VRA toured some of the communities to impress upon those living along the White Volta to vacate the place due to the imminent floods, while NADMO deployed 5,000 volunteers to evacuate recalcitrant farmers along the disaster-prone zone.
The disaster volunteers groups, together with other stakeholders, are also to effect programmes aimed at stopping agricultural practices along the catchment areas of the Black and White Volta rivers.
The Deputy National Co-ordinator of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) in charge of relief and reconstruction, Alhaji Sulemana Yirimea, said the international community would not forgive the country, especially NADMO, if it remained aloof in spite of the timely warning from Burkina Faso.
He said there had been meetings at high governmental level between Ghana and Burkina Faso to control the spillage by opening the dams on gradual basis.
Alhaji Yirimea, however, said that should not form the basis for complacency on the part of NADMO and other stakeholders such as the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.
He said the sensitisation programme was under way in communities that were likely to be affected most in the Wa East, especially the district capital Funsi and its environs.
He said disaster volunteer groups formed in those communities could also be found in such communities as Wechiau, Kubori, Sapelliga, Tanga, Nabugu and Nasia, where commercial rice farmers were concentrated.
The other communities likely to be affected by the floods of White Volta included Kalbeo, Dacheo, Bolgatanga, Navrongo, Bawku, Binduri and Sandema, where most of the road networks were washed away by the floods, rendering the roads impassable.
The deputy co-ordinator said some of the settler farmers also engaged in onion, tobacco and water melon cultivation, which thrive along river banks because of the humidity.
He said the settler farmers were so recalcitrant that sometimes NADMO personnel would have to move in with security agencies in order for them to comply to leave farming along the rivers banks.
He said NADMO was educating people in the flood-prone areas to change the traditional building code and build houses that could withstand the impact of flood waters.
Alhaji Yirimea said the disaster volunteer groups were also enjoying the co-operation of other volunteer groups such as the fire-fighting volunteers at the local level in sensitising the local people to the dangers and damage their activities had on socio-economic development of the country.
He said the education of the farmers had been extended to the Kassena Nankana and Builsa districts, where the spillage from the Tono Dam, due to heavy rains in the Kasena Nankana District, had serious repercussions for farmers in the area, resulting in post-harvest losses.
Alhaji Yirimea said NADMO was shifting emphasis from waiting for the disaster to strike before rushing with relief items to proactive activities to prevent disasters from taking a great toll on lives and property.
Last year, in August, when the country was given 24 hours before the dam was spilled, five people lost their lives in the Bolgatanga municipality and Bawku West District, when their rooms which got filled to window level collapsed on them.
The floods also caused damage to the Bawku-Kulungungu road, destroying the bridge spanning over the White Volta.
The roads destroyed by the floods also included the Bawku-Binduri; Bolga-Nyariga-Dacheo and the Navrongo-Sandema road networks.
The agricultural output was also affected when over 40,000 hectares of farmlands were submerged under water, destroying crops which were ready for harvest.
According to the Upper East Regional Director of Agriculture, Mr Roy Ayariga, a total of 13,880 metric tonnes of foodstuffs went to waste as a result of the floods that submerged farms.
Similar to that of the NADMO, the aim of the VRA sensitisation visit was to educate the residents on the need to evacuate to higher grounds to avert the loss of lives and property.
Members of the VRA team who toured the flood prone areas were Alhaji Mohammed Erzuah Siam, Senior Community Relations Officer, Alhaji Ben Bukari Salifu, Deputy Upper East Regional Human Resource Manager, Mr Osei Kofi, Customer Relations Officer and Mr John Tayari, Assistant Customer Relations Officer.
Speaking to some opinion leaders at Binduri and Bazua, the leader of the team, Alhaji Mohammed Erzuah Siam, said due to the extent of the damage caused by last year's floods, the VRA has decided to embark on an exercise to sensitise the people, especially those living along the White Volta River, to the dangers that comes with the floods.
Alhaji Siam also warmed those who had farmed close to the river banks to harvest their crops and evacuate to higher grounds to avoid any danger.
He cautioned the community members against crossing the river on Thursday, August 21, 2008 and a few days thereafter.
Alhaji Siam said the VRA, in collaboration with other stakeholders such as the Upper East Regional Co-ordinating Council (UERCC), Regional Secretariat of NADMO, as well as the municipal and district assemblies in the region, would continue to sensitise the people living along the flood-prone areas to avoid casualties.
It would be recalled that almost all the districts in the Upper East Region were hit by a flood disaster as a result of torrential rains from August 24 to August 29, 2007.
The situation was aggravated by the opening of the spillway of the Bagre Dam in neighbouring Burkina Faso.
Consequently, more than 3000 houses in the Talensi-Nabdam, Bongo, Builsa, Bawku West and Bawku districts were destroyed, while almost 8000 inhabitants were left homeless. Also destroyed were several hundreds of hectares of farmland, roads and bridges.
Prominent among the collapsed bridges were the Kulungugu Bridge that links Ghana and her neighbouring Sahelian countries like Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali and the Tamne Bridge on the Garu-Zabugu-Bawku road.