A Framework for Community- Led Disaster Management Plan, has been launched in the Upper East Region, to help address disaster issues in the area.

The Region is one of the most disaster prone areas in the country noted for the reoccurrences of disasters including floods, drought and CSM among others.

The Ghana Red Cross Society with support from the Swiss Red Cross Society engaged a Consultant who worked in collaboration with the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) and the communities to develop the framework.

Presenting the Framework to the Regional Minister, Mr Rockson Ayine Bukari, at the Regional Coordinating office prior to the launch, the Secretary General of the Ghana Red Cross Society, Mr Kofi Addo, explained that what informed his outfit to develop it was the annual reoccurrences of disasters in the region.

The Secretary General said over the years the Ghana Red Cross Society with support from the Swiss Red Cross Society had been providing relief support to disaster victims, such as the provision of food and shelter including 200 houses at the Zorko and Chuchuliga Communities in the Bongo and the Builsa North Districts respectively when the region was most affected by the flood disaster in the year 2007.

He said apart from supporting in the area of Disaster Management, his outfit was also implementing a Maternal Newborn and Child Health Programme with the support of the Ghana Health Service in some selected districts in the Region.

To help in the effective implementation of the Maternal Newborn and Child Health Programme, the Ghana Red Cross Society with support from the Swiss Red Cross Society presented a Toyota Hilux pick-up vehicle, eight motorbikes and ten tricycles to the beneficiary districts of the project, he said.

The Country Director of the Swiss Red Cross, Mr Karsten Voigt, stressed the need for the effective implementation of the framework so as to attract more funding to expand the activities of Disaster Risk Reduction in Ghana.

The Upper East Regional Coordinator of NADMO, Mr Alfred Sawuug, said the framework would help empower the communities to identify disaster prone issues and period of occurrences as well as identify and strengthen their weaknesses so as to help tackle the issues of disaster.

“It has also made them to document issues such as identifying and mobilizing local resources for disaster management where they will need support and building of their capacities in their respective roles among others,” he said.

The study was conducted in 20 communities in the Bongo, Binduri, Nabdam Districts and the Kassena Nankana Municipality.

The Upper East Regional Minister, Mr Rockson Ayine Bukari, commended the two organizations for complementing the Government’s efforts in disaster management and appealed to the organizations to extend the intervention to the remaining Districts in the Region.