Ghana Floods League Table 2016 – Guest Blog, The Green Ghanaian

Every year #AccraFloods trends because, well, Accra always floods. Even when it drizzles. And sometimes Accra gets all the national attention forgetting that other areas in Ghana flood too. So I decided to put together our flood league table so far. A premier league of natural disaster. These are instances where rains have caused either flooding, destruction, loss of life and/or displacement of citizens. It’s a national issue we need to address. Every citizen matters, not just those in Accra.

We have a real problem in our country. So far my total

13 Dead, 9 Injured, 3620 Displaced

What is the impact of these figures on our economy? Don’t these lives matter?

And I believe that the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) and the media don’t do a very good job of accurately determining and reporting the impact of these events. Many of the displaced, injured or dead have not been determined. How are we to make proper decisions and move forward as a nation with such poor accounting?

One might even argue that if the Town and Country Planning Department was properly resourced and functioning, there might not even need to be a NADMO because cities would be planned and buildings wouldn’t be sited in waterways. Social amenities would also be more sufficient for each population to reduce pollution.

I will update this table as we continue through the rainy season and the year. Did I miss any occurrence? Have you had rain destruction in your area? Do let me know. I will update the table.

Our leadership really needs to get serious about protecting its citizens against natural disasters. Town and Country Planning Department & NADMO need to start preventing disaster instead of managing it. We shouldn’t accept this as the norm. We must insist that as a nation we do better.