The World Food Programme, WFP, has handed more than 40 tents to the National Disaster Management Organization, NADMO, to help victims of the explosion at Appiatse near Bogoso in the Western Region.
The UN body whose main objective in Ghana is to assist the government to achieve zero hunger, is also exploring ways to partner NADMO, to support the livelihoods of disaster affected people, especially victims of floods and famine.
The WFP Country Director, Barbara Clemens Tulu, said WFP will continue to work with the government and other partners to monitor the Appiatse situation.
Receiving the items, Deputy Director General of NADMO, Seji Saji Amedonu, described the intervention as timely. He said the items will go a long way to help the victims. She said it highlighted the need for the victims to get a family sized tent. She said the tents comes at a cost of $20,000.
“They requested it. I think they had large tents and it wasn’t family friendly. They couldn’t move everyone from the hotel, but I think the issue in emergencies is getting people from the temporary solutions like the hotels and back into their families. It was at their specifications”.
Asked if there were plans to donate more, Madam Clemens Tulu said,” if it is requested, we will get them more. They requested for forty”.
She said, “anything we do in Ghana is at the behest of the government. We are very cognissant what our role is, when we say facilitation, the government is indeed leading”.
The WFP Representative and Country Director said the donation is in response to the findings of a joint assessment of the Appiatse Explosion carried out by various stakeholders including the UN Inter Agency Working Group on Emergency.
”Consequently, WFP obtained 40 household tents from its UN Humanitarian Response Depot, to provide shelter and some privacy for 40 families that were displaced by the explosion. With regard to food security, we are informed that although farms were not affected, the loss of money saved at home, destruction of shops and other income generating activities of especially women, including injury caused by the disaster, could negatively impact families’ security. We will continue to work with our government partners or the situation”.
Over the years, World Food Programmes’ emergency response has supported NADMO to improve contingency planning, joint rapid risk assessments, the development of an agro early warning system, and establishment of a flood information system which enables NADMO to monitor the impact of floods in real-time to determine the number of affected people and property destroyed.
Last week, WFP signed a Memorandum of Understanding with NADMO to undertake a multi stakeholder Emergency Preparedness drill and simulation, which will strengthen its capacity as well as that of local emergency respondents, to be able to respond effectively to flooding in Ghana.
The Deputy Director General, Seji Saji Amedonu, who received the items said three things prompted the setting up of the Appiatse Relief Fund.
He said at the onset of the explosion, some victims (men) were housed in hotels and the others (women and children) were also put in large tents, hence the need for family sized tents.
He said the tents donated will help the men move in with their wives and children.
“This particular kind of tents I what is actually required because this is what we call a family tent. We have other kinds of tents. There is a particular tent provided by UNICEF, it’s very big, 25meters long. It’s a huge one. We have about two there already. We have the smaller ones too there. So what the WFP has brought, is the particular ones we need so if we get more of this kind of tents, we will be very happy as an organisation, because it will go a long way to put the people into their various families”.
The Hub Manager of the United Nations Humanitarian Response Depot, Moris Oduor Otieno, said there are five hubs which are strategically situated in Accra, Italy, Spain, Dubai and Malaysia.
He added that the objective of having these hubs is to assist humanitarian partners of WFP who have signed technical agreement with WFP.
WFP is the world’s largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide, delivering food assistance in emergencies and working with communities to improve nutrition and build resilience.
Each year, WFP assists some 80 million people in about 80 countries.
At least 14 people were killed and 179 were displaced in a huge explosion where truck carrying explosives to a gold mine crashed with a motorcycle near the town of Bogoso in Appiatse.
