The Central Regional Minister, Hon. Ekow Okyere Eduamoah Panyin, has called on the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) to fundamentally reorient its operations from a reactive, relief-focused agency into a proactive disaster risk management institution.



The Minister made the call at a three-day Leadership and Capacity Building Workshop for 120 Metropolitan, Municipal and District (MMD) Directors and Deputy Directors of NADMO in the Central Region. The workshop, themed "Resetting NADMO for Improved Performance in Disaster Resilience," brought together senior field officers to chart a new course for the organisation's operational direction.



Addressing participants, Hon. Eduamoah Panyin was unequivocal in his message, that responding to disasters after they occur is no longer enough. He stressed that disaster management must extend into risk reduction, preparedness, and early intervention if the country is to effectively confront the growing frequency of floods, fires, and storms.



"We must act before disasters strike, not only after lives and properties have been affected that you will go to donate rice, oil, mattresses and petty amenities," the Minister stated.



While acknowledging that relief support to victims remains an important component of NADMO's mandate, he argued that a purely reactive posture leaves communities perpetually vulnerable. He called for renewed and intensified focus on public education and awareness, early warning systems, community-level preparedness programmes, risk mapping and monitoring, and stronger institutional capacity to ensure faster and more coordinated responses.



The Minister expressed particular concern about perennial flooding in parts of the Central Region, attributing the recurring crisis to poor drainage systems, illegal structures, and improper waste disposal — issues he indicated require preventive policy action, not just post-disaster relief.