RAINS RENDER MANY HOMELESS ...In Builsa District (BACK PAGE)

Hours of heavy rains in the Builsa District have caused some rivers to break their banks and rendered a number of people homeless.
The rains, which started last Friday night, continued to Saturday evening, displacing about 150 people who are now said to be living with close relatives. A number of culverts and bridges, some of which were constructed less than two years ago, have also been washed away.
During a visit to Sandema, the district capital, the officer in charge of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), Mr Colbert Yansa, said as a result of torrential rains about 119 people in communities such as Sandema, Siniensi, Wiag and Chuchuliga had all been displaced.
He said some communities like Weisi and Gbedembilisi in the southern parts of the district had all been cut off from the district capital. Mr Yansa said there was the urgent need for the affected people to be supplied with relief items such as blankets, mosquito nets and mattresses to help ameliorate their suffering.
He indicated that his outfit was in the process of writing officially to the national office of NADMO through the Regional Co-ordinating Council for the supply of the necessary aid items.
Meanwhile at Kobdema, a suburb of Sandema, a number of residents who spoke to the Daily Graphic expressed concern about the narrow culverts constructed on some roads in the district. They argued that the size of the culverts were simply unable to contain the huge volumes of water and, therefore, appealed to the government to, as a matter of urgency, replace all the culverts with huge ones to avert such flooding which is gradually turning into a perennial problem.
The Builsa District, which is a low-lying area, is already vulnerable to floods. In 2007 and 2008, the entire district was hit by floods that damaged property and lives.
After a tour of the affected areas last Sunday, the Upper East Regional Minister, Mr Mark Woyongo, told the Daily Graphic that the only way to avoid disaster of such nature was for the people to relocate to higher grounds.
In the meantime, he said he would liaise with the NADMO office in Accra to see what could be done immediately to help those displaced.
He also bemoaned the shoddy nature of the work carried out by some contractors on some of the rehabilitated roads, and tasked the supervisors of such contracts to strengthen their supervisory roles to avoid such shoddy works.
Mr Woyongo directed the head of the agency in charge of roads in the region to make provision for the rehabilitation of the roads damaged by the rains,
He was accompanied on the tour by the DCE for Builsa, Mr Norbert Awulley, the Regional Co-ordinator of NADMO, Mr Patrick Akake, the Regional Director of the Ghana Highway Authority, Mr David Hammond, and the Regional Manager of Feeder Roads, Mr Wellington Lanquaye.