Onset of rains should not bring pain to residents

For the past few days, the weather has given us clear indications of what may happen if we fail to get our act together.

It is an undeniable fact that in the past few years the onset of the rainy season brought havoc and untold hardships to those who found themselves victims, either by way of their geographic locations or sheer coincidence of flooding.

While some were at home, others were returning from work when they met the onslaught of floods occasioned by downpours.

The incidents of June 3, 2015 which claimed so many lives at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra and associated events that displaced a good number of people across the country are still fresh in our minds.

One of the banes of our quest for development has been the failure to learn lessons from past events and strategically place ourselves to avert future events and thereby make our country a better place to live after such painful incidents.

It has become the norm that, as a nation, we take reactionary steps following the devastating effects of otherwise preventable situations.

But here we must commend the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) for embarking on a massive dredging of the Odaw River to make room for the free flow of flood waters.

Although the dredging is a little late, it is better late than never.

However, the big question that remains to be answered is whether we are prepared enough for disasters that claim human lives and are ready to take steps to avert a future occurrence.

Quite clearly, no right-thinking person would want to take human lives for granted, for which reason he or she would look on with little or no concern while lives are lost in very preventable situations.

The Daily Graphic wishes to state that the empathy and sympathy that go out to victims when these disasters occur cannot, in any way, atone for the losses that families who have lost breadwinners suffer.

While we appreciate the role that the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) plays during such trying times, we think the organisation needs to be better resourced to enhance its preventive functions, instead of the reactionary situations that it has to deal with.

If NADMO is well resourced to play its preventive mandate, it will be possible for it to identify the early warning signs and liaise with relevant bodies to take the necessary actions to avert any disaster should the skies decide to ‘weep’ heavily.

As it is our policy to give praise where it is due, the Daily Graphic commends NADMO for giving out emergency numbers to victims of the recent flood that occurred in parts of Accra.

The problem, as the Daily Graphic believes, is not about the amount of rain that falls but our preparedness to deal with the challenges that downpours bring.

For our part, we will do our best to inform and educate Ghanaians on what they must do to avoid the negative effects of such unfortunate incidents. 

But our mandate goes beyond that. That is the reason we are calling on all relevant institutions to get their act together towards ensuring that the gear of destruction that occasion every downpour is reversed.

The Daily Graphic also reminds residents to play their part by not obstructing the flow of water with the dumping of refuse into gutters and open spaces and putting up structures on water courses.

The floods can be tamed if we respect the regulations that guarantee the safety and security of all the people.