US $21 million needed now for flood victims

Ghana needs an initial US $21 million from the international community to care for flood victims in the country’s three northern regions, the ‘Daily Graphic’ in Accra reported on Tuesday, quoting the chairman of the National Disaster Management Committee, Nii Okaija Adamafio. Adamafio told diplomats in Accra on Monday at a briefing on the floods that the money was needed for “quick emergency rehabilitation” in the affected Upper West, Upper East and Northern regions. Of the total relief money sought, he said, US $6 million would be for the immediate rehabilitation of roads, $2 million for drugs, $1 million for tents and another $6 million for relief food over the next six months. Adamafio, who is also Ghana’s minister of the interior, said the government had already spent “well beyond” $5 million on items like blankets, mats, roofing sheets, food medicines to aid the victims. This, he said, was just a fraction of the expected cost of reconstruction. He said 32,6036 homes had collapsed and 282,227 people affected. So far, 116,579 acres (about 47,180 hectares) is affected. In addition, he said 52 people had died and 29 injured. There had been 1,500 reported cases of cholera and 225 settlements submerged in Upper East Region. Foreign Minister James Gbeho told the diplomats that the floods followed the heaviest rains in the area in 30 years. The situation, he added, had been worsened by the opening of a hydroelectric dam spillway in neighbouring Burkina Faso. In response to the crisis, Swiss Ambassador Peter Schwizer said, the Swiss Red Cross has airlifted relief items worth 400 million cedis (US $142,096) to Ghana.