Home » ‘Tidal waves attack is a national disaster, don’t politicise it’
News

‘Tidal waves attack is a national disaster, don’t politicise it’

He appealed to residents of Keta and adjoining communities to desist from winning sand along the shore, which created a channel for the sea to attack and erode the beach.

 

More than 3,000 people were reportedly displaced and 500 houses destroyed by the waves.

 

The affected people are in need of food, clothes, medicines and shelter to cope with the tragic incident.

 

Communities affected include Abutiakope, Kedzikope and Dzelukope, Dzita, Anloga, Agbledomi, Atiteti, Agokedzi, Serakope Fuveme, leaving residents homeless with nothing to salvage.

 

Some roads within the communities have become impassable and nearly cut from each other.

 

Mr Afenyo-Markin, at a press conference by the Majority Caucus in Parliament on the recent tidal waves, said the major intervention; the sea defence project, started during former President John Agyekum Kufuor’s era; and a new initiative during former President John Mahama’s Administration, in 2015 was completed in 2019.

 

He said the activities of sand-winners were making the people in the area more vulnerable and would cost the nation huge sums of money in terms of recovery and settlement.

 

“I would plead. Much as Government is making efforts to provide relief, the relief items are themselves not the solution…They are temporary relief after the whole thing has occurred,” he added.

 

The Minority Caucus in Parliament, in a reaction, described the statement by Mr Afenyo-Markin as “unfortunate and a lack of sympathy to address the crisis and suffering of the people.”

 

Mr Emmanuel Armah Kofi-Buah, the Ranking Member on the Trade and Industry Committee, addressing the media, said about 500 houses were destroyed by the flooding due to the tidal waves.

 

He said the issues of sand wining was a problem not only in the Volta Region but across the country.

 

However, the issues went beyond sand winning, hence the need to tackle the immediate crisis in Ketu South.

 

“Just imagine waking one morning and everything you worked for your whole life is gone and the government, which has to be responsive and come to your aid, does not show up. And the answer from NADMO is that there is no resources…that is the issue,” Mr Kofi-Buah said.

 

He called on government to resource NADMO to enhance its emergency preparedness to effectively handle disaster situations in the country.

 

Source: Ghana News Agency

Calender

March 2024
M T W T F S S
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031