FLOOD-FIRE DISASTERS - Wake-Up Call to put our house in order
The 2012 vice-presidential candidate of the Progressive People’s Party, Ms Eva Lokko says never again should Ghana suffer the 3rd June 2015 Flood-Fire Disasters.
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It is exactly a month ago when the dark incident shook the nation with a reminder we have been too careless for far too long and need to mend our ways.
And she believes the time to act is now or never!!!
Read her thoughts below.
FLOOD-FIRE DISASTERS - Wake-Up Call to put our house in order (9 June 2015)
The Victims and Those Who Passed Away
The PPP sends it heart-felt condolences to all the families who lost their dear ones. We pray that God gives the victims who are still with us the strength and perseverance to put their losses behind them and build their lives again. We thank God for sparing them. We also hope that all Ghanaians will use these disasters to come together as a family and help all the victims with whatever they can give. This is a wake-up call for all of us to put Ghana first so that we can all benefit from the pool of talents that God gave us and develop our country in peace and discipline.
The Rescue Services
We are grateful for the quick action taken by the National Fire Service Department; for their professional actions that curbed the fires at the Goil Station and Tip Toe Lane. There were Institute of Engineers’ personnel working as well. Without their preparedness, more lives would have been lost. I was on the scene from Thursday and met police officers, who were also there since Wednesday. Without their efforts, some rogues would have taken undue advantage of the situation to rob victims and businesses and we are grateful to them. Most of the rescue teams were visibly tired and famished from their toil, but they kept their beat. I wonder if they even had access to food and water during the ordeal. Unfortunately, even though I was told that some NADMO personnel were on the scene from Wednesday, they did not bring any relief items like bottled water, hot drinks, towels, blankets and first aid items to the victims, at the crucial time when they needed them most.
The Photo Ops
It is very important that victims of any disaster, get consoled by the leaders of the country and many did - from the President through to priests. But what struck me was that in the rush to the scene, no institutions came with relief items at the critical time when victims were thirsty, hungry, cold, wounded and in shock. It was the “scene” of the disaster that took centre stage. It was as if this is the first disaster we have ever witnessed. It was ordinary citizens and unknown companies that brought critical relief to the victims, on Wednesday and Thursday, when they needed it most.
NADMO was only able to bring relief items, three days after the victims have gone through their worst nightmares for two days. Then, after going from house to house to register victims, NADMO forced the traumatised victims to cue in the garbage-filled streets like paupers, to collect mattresses, mosquito nets, one bowl, one bucket and soap per household. A day later, some benevolent companies who wanted to remain anonymous, gave out food packs, sugar, rice, gari, 2 cans of milk, 2 cans of sardines and pack of biscuit, in the presence of NADMO. Some good Samaritans also went from door to door distributing food. NADMO on the fifth day brought the victims a tanker of water, which was distributed according to the victims’ receptacles. On the Sunday after the disaster, a truck with NADMO staff, gave out a bag of rice per five households; 2 cans of fish, 2 bottles of oil and pack of tea leaves per household. La Palm went house to house with food. Unfortunately, many victims were left out, due to the location and modality of the distributions.
Zoomlion came on the scene on Friday to collect the damaged belongings of the victims, which included TV sets, clothing, furniture, mattresses, etc, that were not washed away by the floods. At one point, the floodwater was neck high in victims’ homes. The watermark is still on the walls. Coming late to collect valuable assets, which have now become garbage, Zoomlion staff gave the traumatised victims gloves and forced them to load their damaged belongings into the trucks. They watched victims go through tall heaps of garbage, reminding them of what they have lost. The victims had the emotional duty of carting their damaged goods to the roadside from early Thursday through dirty floodwater, mud, rubble and charred assets. They had no running water and no electricity. Some victims broke down in tears in the process and were comforted by other victims. They are alive, but must now think about survival tomorrow and beyond.
The victims had no sleep on Wednesday and some had no food or drinking water for hours because their wallets and bags have been swept away by the floodwater. Most of them went to bed after 11pm on Thursday and mostly in other people’s homes since their rooms were too smelly with petrol fumes and the floors and walls were too wet. More importantly, they had no mattresses or blankets to sleep on. Friends and family poured in to help at all stages. GCB, CAL Bank and other big business in the area could have helped too but I did not see any representatives there. When you get up one normal day with all your hard-earned assets and find yourself without clothing and underwear except the dirty, muddy, smelly clothes on your back the next day, you thank God for your life. But as a human being, you go straight into depression because you have lost almost every asset you have acquired in life.
The Disaster
GOIl must take immediate steps to compensate victims for their loss. The general information from victims was that the GOIL Station has been alerted several times about the leakage from the station, but no action was taken. Police have been informed and are aware that there are wee smokers at a place called “Sahara” - going towards the Odawnaa. According to eyewitnesses who had escaped upstairs on a balcony to avoid the rising water, the floodwater rose and flowed down towards “Sahara” and Odawnaa. The leakage from the GOIL Station got worse and petrol began to float on top of the floodwater. The general story is that one of the wee smokers dropped a match or wee butt into the floodwater without realising that it had petrol on it. This ignited the petrol, which immediately burst into flames and started moving against the flow of the floodwater, in the opposite direction toward the petrol station. On its way, it burnt some of the smokers, a kiosk and truck and continued all the way to the petrol station, consuming whatever was in its path. At the station it burned people, vehicles and other items all around.
Because of the fumes and the volume of petrol at the station, the flame final caused an explosion, which broke down the wall between the station and the residence behind it. The flaming floodwater rushed into the residence and burnt its way through several rented rooms in the compound and started going up the story building, where most of the eyewitnesses were gathered. But for the professional and timely action of the National Fire Services Department, they would all have lost their lives. They rescued them using tight ropes through the floodwater. Some victims, had to swim to rescue other victims perched on walls. When the victims finally got to the Ernest Bruce Church, NAMDO was nowhere with relief items.
Next Steps
GOIL must take immediate steps to compensate victims for what they have lost, as soon as possible. The government institutions (MMDAs) responsible for sanitation, security, rescue, relief and civic functions, should give themselves one week to develop a strategy to solve the flooding and fire risk problems once and for all. This includes two Ministries - local Government and Environment; AMA, Department of Social Welfare, EPA, NCCE. They should institute and implement clear processes for collaboration and get into action with the utmost urgency. This is a national crisis.
The institutes of Planning, Architects, Engineers, etc should mount a serious campaign and produce a blueprint for government to adopt and implement, to ensure that no repeat of 3 Jun 2015 occurs. As a short-term measure, a countrywide removal of garbage and rubble and de-silting of drains should start as soon as possible as a matter of urgency. Until we are ready to use modern affordable technology to rehabilitate and to build future drainage and sanitation systems, let us use available local, manual and appropriate technology to start getting rid of the garbage from all drains, ditches and canals. We can solicit the support of the pool of unemployed youth to help in this national emergency. Daily clean up should kick in.
All our laws and by-laws should be enforced with immediate effect and requisite on-the-spot fines instituted, to stop the indiscipline of littering and throwing garbage into drains and open spaces. All vehicle repair garages should be provided with the rules and regulations to ensure that they do not park vehicles on streets and open spaces to act as barricades to floodwater and rescue personnel. All buildings and structures on pavements and waterways should be demolished through existing legal procedures. All construction projects must be made to follow strictly, all rules and regulations. They must be given all critical information concerning diversion of waterways and held accountable for non-adherence. All MMDAs should embark on educating all and sundry from kindergarten through to corporations and markets.
We cannot continue to mar the image of our dear country with “garbage emergencies” that kill, destroy assets, and impoverish our citizens. Since 1995, according to a First Digital TV research, we have had headlines in the media that scream “The Worst Disaster Ever” all the way to June 4 2015. This clearly shows that nothing substantive enough has been done over the years, except photo ops and failed promises. The situation has therefore gone from bad to worse. It is time to wake up and put Ghana first. Government, public institutions, corporate entities, businesses and individuals, should do their part, starting today. The onus lies squarely with leadership, especially those in the institutions whose failures have led to the yearly repeat of flood disasters in the same areas (Circle, Adabraka, Odawnaa, etc), through the same causes (garbage-choked drains, narrow drains, structures on waterways, etc). Let us make this criminal and horrible disaster a wake-up call to action. Let us put Ghana first and everything else will follow. Awake!