Mion (N/R), March 18, GNA – A total of 30 Community Disaster Preparedness and Response Teams (CDPRTs) have undergone training to provide them with basic skills to respond to their communities’ immediate needs before and in the aftermath of a disaster when outside help is not immediately available.
They communities included Gbima, Soo Namoo, Bugyinga, Aaba, Kusobi, Zanloo, Mishio, Binbini, Salugu, Chama, Gimam, Gunguni, Kpetibo, Kalegu, Nkanchina No.2, Kitare, Bladjai, Kumdi, Wiae Charbob, Bombare, Bankamba, Kabeso. Sakabu, Tongnoli, Lamagdo, Bugyili, Kpumi. Ditani, Kambosiya, and Luligu drawn from the West Mamprusi, Mamprugu-Moagduri, Kpandai, Karaga, Mion, Nanumba North and South Districts in the Northern and North East Regions.
The trainings were also to enable the CDPRTs to understand the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and apply them, work as a team to apply basic fire suppression strategies, resources, and safety measures to extinguish fire, apply techniques for opening airways, controlling excessive bleeding, and treating for shock, understand evacuation procedures and simulate on them amongst others.
Topics treated during the training, included Disaster Preparedness and Response, Fire Safety and Utility Controls, Disaster Medical Operations, Search and Rescue Operations, Evacuation in Emergencies, Public Health in Emergencies, Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction amongst others.
The trainings were facilitated by officers from the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), Ghana National Fire Service, Forestry Commission, Ghana Police Service and Ghana Health Service.
CDPRTs are formed by members of a community, who want to be better prepared for the hazards that threaten their communities, and they are critical in the effort to engage everyone in the communities in making their communities safer, more prepared, and more resilient when incidents occur.
The trainings were organised by the Ghana Red Cross Society (GRCS) as part of its Disaster Risk Reduction/Climate Change Adaptation/Institutional Preparedness (DRR/CCA/IP) project, being implemented in partnership with NADMO and funded by the Swiss Red Cross.
The DRR/CCA/IP sought to amongst others ensure that disaster management systems and structures were established in communities to ensure resilience against disasters.
Mr Abdul-Rahamani Yussif, Northern Regional Manager of GRCS, who briefed the Ghana News Agency about the trainings, said 10 other communities in the Savannah Region would undergo the training before the end of the second quarter of the year to enhance their resilience to disaster and disaster management.
Mr Yussif said the training covered basic skills that were important to know in a disaster when emergency services were not available telling the CDPRTs that “With training and practice, and by working as a team, a lot of good can be done for the greatest number of people especially the most vulnerable before and after a disaster.”
He said Regional and District Teams of GRCS and NADMO Directors would be monitoring the work of the CDPRTs emphasising need for CDPRTs to always adhere to the SOPs when attending to incidents to ensure efficiency and better results.
GNA