THE Eastern Region, with an approximate population of 2.5 million, is the third most populous region in the country.
The region, with very big towns such as Koforidua, the capital, Nkawkaw, Akyem Oda, Somanya, Asamankese and Suhum, as well as many smaller towns, villages and hamlets, consists of five municipalities — New Juaben, Kwahu West, Birim Central, East Akyem and West Akyem — and 16 other districts.
It is also one of the fastest developing political entities, with most of the settlements being provided with social amenities such as schools, health, water and sanitation facilities and roads.
Despite its heterogeneous population made up of Akyems, Guans, Akuapems, Anum/Bosos, Kwahus and Krobos, the original settlers and other migrants from different parts of the country, the various ethnic groups, including Ashantis, have, over the years, co-existed peacefully without tension or hostilities that can trigger humanitarian problems.
However, due to the destruction of the environment, particularly the forest cover and the cutting of trees that serve as wind breaks, inhabitants in some of the communities experience natural disasters such as landslides, floods, rainstorms and fire outbreaks which make life unbearable for them.
For instance, for the past one-and-a-half years the region has experienced numerous and various forms of disasters prominent among them being floods and rainstorms in various parts of the region.
Some of the disasters were floods at Bosuso, which destroyed 14 houses and rendered 136 people homeless, as well as fire outbreaks and rainstorms which destroyed the girls’ dormitory of the senior high school at Begoro, both in the Fanteakwa District, and Sankubenase in the Atiwa District which destroyed numerous houses.
Ghanakpe, a village near Atimpoku in the Asuogyaman District, the Mount Mary College of Education at Somanya in Yilo Krobo and some communities in Lower Manya Krobo also suffered severe rainstorms which destroyed buildings, as well as Ekye Amanfro on the Volta Lake and other villages in the Kwahu North District which were flooded due to spillage from the Bagre Dam in Burkina last year.
Towns and communities such as Akyem Ofoase, Ofoasekuma, Brenase, Adjobue, Anyinase and Abenase, all in the Akyemmansa District, and some parts of Nkawkaw, the capital of the Kwahu West municipality, also suffered from rainstorms and floods. Osiem, Maase and Asafo, all in the East Akyem Municipality and Gyadam in the Birim Central Municipality were also not spared the wrath of flood disasters.
The regional office of National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) under its current Co-ordinator, Mr Ransford Boakye has, however, been able to manage the effects of the disasters well with swift interventions of relief items and other materials to minimise the effects of the disasters.
“We have zonal co-ordinators of NADMO in the districts and municipalities as well as Disaster Volunteer Groups (DVGs) in all the communities whose members promptly inform us as soon as a disaster occurs and we also get the information from the radio stations after which we inform the Municipal and District Chief Executives in the affected areas,” he added.
“Thereafter, we follow up with relief materials and any other intervention that would lessen the hard effects of the disaster on the victims. Most often, we involve collaborating agencies such as the Fire Service, police and Ghana Health Service to also provide assistance which together with the relief items NADMO provides, go a long way to lessen the suffering of the victims,” Mr Boakye stated.
According to Mr Boakye, for the first half of the year (2010), about 8,000 disaster victims received assistance in terms of relief items comprising food, sleeping mats, blankets, tents, clothing (second-hand goods) roofing sheets and other construction materials worth millions of Ghana cedis.
To ensure that all victims get their share of the items, Mr Boakye said NADMO officials personally supervise the distribution with the assistance of the community leaders, especially the chiefs, to ensure that problems with regard to the distribution were promptly solved.
“I always have something in stock and also immediately go for supplies from Accra after which I personally supervise the distribution of the items in most of the affected areas to ensure that none of the victims is left out,” the Regional Co-ordinator stated.
Mr Boakye stressed that the Municipal and District Chief Executives in the region had played active roles in assisting disaster victims in their areas.
He specifically mentioned those in charge of Asuogyaman, Akyemmansa, West Akyem, East Akyem, Birim South, Birim North, Kwahu West, Kwahu South, Upper Manya Krobo, Yilo Krobo, Fanteakwa, Akuapem South and Akuapem North for their personal commitment in bringing relief to disaster victims in their areas.
Apart from managing and preventing disasters, NADMO through its DVGs also engaged in income generating activities such as food crop farming, aquaculture, grass cutter production and bee-keeping in different parts of the region.
At the moment, there are 85 viable DVGs, each with a membership of between 20 and 35 on ventures such as a 20-acre maize farm at Asesewa owned by the Agadzajiter Mellenovi Group, and another 20-acre plantain farm being cultivated by the Adom Multipurpose Group at Gyamfiase, near Kwamoso.
Other DVGs are also engaged in fish-farming at Bosuso in the Fanteakwa District, maize and cassava farming at Asuboni Rails in Kwahu West while in Koforidua 400,000 seedlings were being nursed for an afforestation project.
The activities of the DVGs and the mother organisation, NADMO, which according to Mr Boakye had been wrongly perceived as a political organisation, had gone a long way to alleviate the suffering of thousands of unfortunate people in the region.
“We were able to do a lot to make life worth living for many people affected by natural and “man-made” disasters as well as the unemployed because I had to remove the political clot from NADMO by orientating the staff members who were hitherto divided on political party lines, thus uniting them for a common purpose.
“People perceive NADMO as a political tool only interested in giving out relief items after disasters which is wrong because it has no political lineage and also involves in other activities such as disaster prevention and income generation ventures for a large number of unemployed youth,” Mr Boakye said.
Although NADMO has so far lived up to expectation in the region, there is room for improvement, especially with regard to the activities of the DVGs some of which, according to Mr Boakye, had become dormant.
Their re-organisation, galvanising and re-sourcing for more income generation ventures would therefore go a long way to sustain the region’s large number of unemployed to reduce poverty in the area.
It is also expected that adequate relief items must always be in the warehouse of the regional office to be promptly distributed to disaster victims to avert a situation where officials from the regional capital have to rely on the national headquarters for assistance, which normally delays.
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