Government is yet to equip the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), with the requisite resources needed to tackle emergencies such as the June 3 2015 flood and fire disaster, which killed 152 people a year ago.
NADMO had challenges in its quest to assist some survivors of the disaster on time due to lack of funds and logistics.
[contextly_sidebar id=”k4TLn8WeawfFwlFUTuZwVddPhG8NnHHv”]A year after the incident, the Head of Hydro Meteorological Department of NADMO, Sarah Adenko, has told Citi News’ Eugenia Tenkorang that their challenges still persist.
According to him, NADMO officials have on several occasions been compelled to foot bills for most of the logistics needed to carry out their duties effectively from their pockets.
“3rd June came and we didn’t have the relief items and people were expecting us to respond immediately,” she lamented.
“For example, we have identified Accra, Western Region and Volta Region as disaster prone and we should by this time be going out to be talking to MMDAs to look at their plans. How would you respond?We should be having simulation exercises but we have not moved out yet. We don’t have fuel, and sometimes we have to go and credit. You have to go to the field and work and sometimes you have to use your own vehicle, buy your own fuel because there is no money for the fuel and you want to go out and work. The logistics are not there and this is a big challenge for us.”
37 Military Hospital faces same challenge
The lack of logistics is not peculiar to NADMO. Major health facilities such as the 37 Military Hospital, has its own share of challenges in dealing with emergencies.
According to an Officer in-charge of Medical Stores and Equipment, Lieutenant Colonel Richard Attara, though the hospital is relatively better resourced than other health facilities, the lack of some vital equipment rendered it impossible to say they were ready to deal with future disasters.
The Officer-in-charge of Medical Stores and Equipment, Lieutenant Colonel Richard Attara, told Eugenia that, “Logistics generally is a challenge so naturally when it comes to disaster, you can’t say that you are fully prepared. We were not ready for it initially. We had to depend on the few resources within our department to handle the disaster until philanthropists started donating which supported our efforts.”
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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana