Bodada-Buem (V/R), March 4, GNA - Mr Henry Ametepe, Volta Regional Co-ordinator of National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) on Wednesday advised Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to rise up to the responsibility of mitigating the effects of disasters.

He said NADMO's new outlook, which is centred on providing humanitarian services to the poorest-of-the poor, when disasters struck was a departure from ameliorating the situation en masse. Mr Ametepe gave the advice during an interaction with windstorm disaster victims at Bodada-Buem in the Jasikan District, where 19 out of the 46 houses affected on February 19 had their roofs ripped-off. He asked the MMDAs to lead the efforts at improving the effects of disasters with NADMO providing support services.

Mr Ametepe proposed that the works departments of the MMDAs and the Department of Rural Housing need to collaborate to undertake housing auditing and screening and compel landlords to carry out periodic maintenance to engender stability in the building industry. He called for strict technical supervision regimes to follow the granting of building permits to prospective estate developers to ensure good standards and lessen shoddy works.

Mr Francis Addo, Regional Director of the Department of Rural Housing suggested the need for capacity building and retraining programmes for artisans as a measure to correct the technical and engineering deficiencies in the system. He noted that majority of the buildings affected by the storm had defective roofs.

Ms Evelyn Dey, NADMO Official in-charge of Operations urged stakeholders at the community level to encourage the culture of tree planting, to guide against storms.

Nana Boampong, Amankrado of Buem Traditional Area attributed the recent rain and windstorms experienced in the area to unwarranted devastation of forests due to the logging of commercial trees. He called on government to review policies of ceding forests concessions to timber merchants and saw-millers. GNA JA