Kadjebi (O/R),- Mr Joseph Nana Oboako, the Kadjebi District Director of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), has appealed to the citizenry to help prevent disaster in the country.
This, he said, would help reduce the risk of being affected by a disaster.
Mr Oboako said even if the hazard could not be removed, vulnerability could be decreased and in case of an impact, the capacity to withstand responding and recovering would be strong.
He said NADMO was duty bound to prevent disaster since prevention pays.
Mr Oboako, who was speaking with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Kadjebi in the Oti Region, said the Zonal Officers have been tasked to sensitise community members on the need to prevent disasters, especially, bushfires.
He said their engagements had taken them to churches, mosques and schools where participants were been taught on disaster prevention and preparedness.
The District NADMO Director explained that bushfires could cause multiply direct impacts on life, property and on the survival of fauna.
He said the phenomenon also impoverished the soil by destroying organic matter in the soil and increasing leaching, wind, and water erosion.
Mr Oboako said the effects of bushfires were far reaching, as large areas of land and nature are destroyed, wild animals and people are killed, homes burn down, livestock and agriculture lands are threatened or destroyed.
He said some hunters, palm wine tappers and herdsmen were guilty of setting fire to the bush for game and fresh grasses for their animals to feed on.
Mr Oboako said the law would be applied to the latter when these perpetrators were caught, adding that the directorate had also marked some dilapidated structures in the district for demolition as a disaster preventive measure.
Source: Ghana News Agency