Support For Flood Victims... Support For Flood Victims...Zoomlion Donates GH¢500,000

Gloria Opoku-Anti (arrowed) presenting the items to Seji Saji Amedonu while Divine Fenu (6th from left), the DCE, and some officials of both Zoomlion and the district assembly look on. Picture: DELLA RUSSEL OCLOO

Waste management company, Zoomlion Ghana Limited, has donated relief items worth GH¢500,000 to the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) for onward distribution to displaced victims of the Akosombo and Kpong dams spillage.

The items, which include food, water, sanitary materials, and safety gear, will be distributed to affected communities in the areas.

The company also presented a cash amount of GH¢50,000 for the purchase of essential medical supplies that may be required for the displaced persons.

Additionally, it supported 100 of its workers within the Mepe area, some of whom have also been displaced by the flood, with food items and GHC500 each.

Speaking during the presentation of the relief items, the Managing Director of Zoomlion, Gloria Opoku-Anti, said the urgency of the situation required everyone to come together to support those who were suffering the most.

She said Zoomlion was committed to providing humanitarian assistance to the affected communities, and that the company’s relief items were to help to maintain a clean environment and protect people from harm and diseases.

Victims

The spillage of the two dams, which commenced on September 15, 2023, by the Volta River Authority (VRA) as a way of protecting the integrity of the dams from collapsing, has submerged several homes and farmlands, displacing over 35,000 people.

Shelter

Presently, the majority of the displaced people are being housed in classroom facilities within the Mepe area that have been spared of the flood waters.

A number of schools have also been submerged, leaving nearly 10,000 children out of school, according to Child Rights International.

Insanitary conditions within the holding camps, identified as safe havens for the displaced people, continue to worsen, fearing the outbreak of communicable diseases.

At the St Kizito Catholic Senior Technical School at Mepe, where about 1,500 of the displaced people are being housed, the residents had to share the school’s four-seater capacity toilet and bath until the donation of mobile toilets by the VRA.

With water and electricity supply to the affected communities completely cut off to avoid electrocution and the outbreak of water-borne diseases following the contamination of the water sources as a result of public places of convenience and cemeteries also being submerged, displaced persons have had to rely on the benevolence of the public for safe drinking water.

Disinfection

Mrs Opoku-Anti, who expressed worry about the unsanitary conditions at the safe havens, also announced the company’s decision to undertake a general disinfection exercise at all the camps to reduce the risk of the displaced persons contracting diseases.

“Our efforts are intended to reduce the spread and incidence of sanitation-related diseases such as malaria, typhoid, and cholera that are normally associated with episodes of flooding,” she said.

NADMO

The Deputy Director General of NADMO, Seji Saji Amedonu, who, together with the District Chief Executive for North Tongu, Divine Osborne Fenu, received the items, said the United Nations Inter-Agency Working Group had done some rapid assessment on the situation and compiled a disaggregated data on the affected persons.

“Their assessment has shown that we have challenges with sanitation, food, water, gender as well as people with disabilities which the national coordination centre is working to address”, Mr Amedonu said.

He said the Centre was, however, waiting for data from the officials to help them constitute Camp Management Teams who would be in charge of dealing with challenges at the various holding centres.