William N. Jalulah
21 September 2007
Bolgatanga — IT IS now known that a total of 31 persons have lost their lives while 90,703, are internally displaced in the Upper East Region following the recent downpours and floods that hit the region. About 10,723 animals have also died in the region consequently.
The number of dams damaged is estimated at 39, highway roads washed away stand at 29 with total length of 427.4km, with an estimated maintenance activity cost of GH¢527,713,493,900. 54 feeder roads with a total length of 542 and estimated maintenance activity cost of GH¢7,923,740.00 have also been washed away while the total number of destroyed bridges and culvert stands at 58. Production loss from affected crop farms of 12,220.7 hectares is estimated at 13,880.55 metric tonnes.
The Upper East Regional Minister, Hon. Alhassan Samari, gave these figures when he briefed a Fact-Finding Team led by the Interior Minister, Mr. Kwamena Bartels in Bolgatanga last Wednesday. The team was in the region to assess the extent of damage caused by the heavy rains that preceded the floods. The team was made up of the Ghana Armed Forces, United Nations High Commission for Refugees, United Nations Disaster Assessment Team, UNICEF among others.
Mr. Samari said 37 health facilities had either collapsed or been damaged as a result of the rains and subsequent floods. He also bemoaned the invasion of black flies, possible outbreak of diseases such as malaria, pneumonia and diarrhoea and inaccessibility to health service. In addition hand-dug wells and bore holes have also been polluted.
The regional minister said due to the submersion of farmlands and livestock that were carried away, the Regional Coordinating Council had recommended support for dry season irrigated crop production commencing next month, October 2007 to May 2008. Mr. Samari said the irrigation farmers would need urgent support in terms of fertilizers and seeds.
He thanked all those who had donated relief items to the victims and called for more support for them to expedite their restoration to normalcy. The Bartels-led team will soon present its recommendations to the government and other international agencies for action to be taken. Some of the areas visited were Bawku, Garu-Tempane, Sandema, Wiaga, Bongo, Tono, Talensi/Nabdanm District and Navrongo.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2007 Ghanaian Chronicle. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
