Mr. James Kwofie was speaking to the press at the Ghana Post head office, in Accra on Monday 30 October 2017.

He insisted that the focus on security of the new system in the last few days clearly show the interests that Ghanaians have on the GhanaPostGPS Application.

”We can talk about security which is obviously an ongoing concern so we cannot say that it is 100% impossible to hack it, but the probability or likelihood is very slim. Every system is liable to hacking, but we have put strict levels of access controls so that access to the information on the system is on the need-to-know basis. There is 24hr monitoring and we’ll know if anybody attempts to hack our system. So far, we are secured” he assured.

Mr. Kwofie called on the public and the media to shift the focus of the discussion to the more tangible benefits of the new digital addressing systems to the general public, the police, the economy, the government and to the revamping of the business of postal services in Ghana in general.

“The benefits for this new digital address system are very huge. This is a game changer for Ghana. All local government agencies can use it for planning purposes, municipalities and district assemblies can use it to value properties, the ‘waakye’ seller can use it to make her location easier to her customers. The digital address is going to become the way of life in how the country does business so let’s focus on that.”

The acting Managing Director also assured that, the issue of double deliveries of parcels because people are not able to find the right addresses is over, with the new digital addressing system.

This he said reduces the cost of doing business for Ghana Post. It will also be the basis for all e-commerce platforms so that people can now sit in Ghana and buy things from abroad and have it delivered to them directly to their homes in Ghana.

“..And we are working with ECG and Ghana Water Company to ensure that all the digital addresses are on the utility bills etc. For those who have no access to smart phones or internet, or who are generally unable to generate their own digital addresses, the GhanaPostGPS also has an offline mode that has been set up so that people can walk into our offices and we can help them generate their own digital addresses” he emphasized.

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By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Teams of emergency workers have so far rescued six people in Malin village, near the city of Pune in Maharashtra state, where the disaster happened.

Rescuers trying to reach survivors caught under the debris are being hampered by bad weather.

The landslide hit the village early in the morning while people were sleeping.

BBC Hindi’s Devidas Deshpande, who is at the scene, says it took hours to raise the alarm. A local bus driver alerted officials on discovering that Malin and the road leading to it were no longer to be seen.

The whole village except its school has been washed away or buried, our correspondent says.

Landslides are common in some parts of India during the monsoon rains, which run from June to September.

An official from India’s National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) said hilly terrain was making rescue work difficult.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi described the loss of lives in the landslide as “saddening”. He said Home Minister Rajnath Singh would travel to Pune to assess the situation.

At the scene: Devidas Deshpande

Looking at the scale of destruction, pulling out any survivors would be no less than a miracle.

It’s been raining heavily for the past two to three days in this remote area, and residents of nearby villages say they were woken up by a loud noise at 3am. Some said it sounded like a massive bomb had gone off.

A large part of a nearby hill collapsed on Malin, and its population of 150 to 200 tribal people were covered with tonnes of loose earth, mud and rocks.

Its homes, mostly shanties made of mud and grass, were flattened and buried under the debris, giving its sleeping residents little chance of escape.

It was not until midday that residents from nearby villages managed to inform administrators.

Rescue teams have been delayed by the narrow single-lane road that is the only approach to the village, and incessant rains are hampering the rescue operations.

More than 12 hours after disaster struck, rescuers are digging through the debris to try to reach survivors, but as evening falls, hopes are getting dimmer.

Senior local official Prabhakar Deshmukh told the Associated Press news agency that rescue workers were being hampered by rains and poor roads.

“According to the district officials 150-200 are feared trapped,” Tripti Parule, a spokeswoman for the National Disaster Management Authority, said in an email to the BBC.

Indian television channels showed dramatic footage of a huge chunk of a hillside giving way, with mud, rocks and water flowing below.

The debris from a hill near the village collapsed on homes

Local official Saurav Rao told the Press Trust of India that heavy machinery and ambulances had been sent to the village.

“The exact number of casualties is not known as we are moving slowly to ensure that those trapped are removed safely,” Mr Rao said.

More than 500 people died and several thousand people were listed as missing after floods and landslides hit the northern state of Uttarakhand in June last year.

Source: BBC

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