By Godwill Arthur-Mensah
Accra, Oct.24, GNA – The Volta River Authority (VRA) says 1.5 million cedis worth of medicines have been supplied to affected communities in the Akosombo Dam spillage.
The District Health Directorate of the Ghana Health Service is facilitating the distribution of the medicines to affected communities.
Mr Edward Obeng-Kenzo, Deputy Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the VRA in charge of Engineering and Operations, announced this at the Minister’s news briefing in Accra on Tuesday, to update the public on government relief after the spillage.
The spillage was undertaken by VRA to safeguard the integrity of the Akosombo Dam following rise in water volumes of the dam.
The spillage affected seven districts in the Volta, Eastern and Greater Accra regions including South, Central and North Tongu, Ada East, Anlo and Asuogyaman.
Some of the hard-hit communities include Mafi Dugame, Kebedopo, Bekpo, Mepe, Avadimewoekome and Siamekote with houses, farmlands and properties running into thousands of Ghana cedis destroyed by the raging floods occasioned by the dam spillage.
President Akufo-Addo earlier visited some of the affected communities and assured his government’s support and determination to restore lives and livelihoods of the affected people.
The President also set up an Inter-Ministerial Committee chaired by the Chief of Staff, Akosua Frema Osei Pare, to assess the damage caused by the spillage and plan the way forward.
Meanwhile, persons affected by the spillage could call the National Emergency Contact Centre on toll-free number 311 on all networks.
The Deputy CEO of VRA said the government was concerned about moving affected persons to safe havens and providing them with reliefs including food, medicines, blankets, buckets and mosquito coils to mitigate the discomforts caused by the spillage.
To that end, the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), the Ghana Armed Forces and other government agencies are coordinating efforts to supply reliefs to the victims.
Mr Obeng-Kenzo said 5,000 solar lumps had been supplied to some persons sheltered in temporarily structures while 40 biodigester toilet booths had been installed to prevent indiscriminate defecating around the settlement.
Madam Fatimatu Abubakar, Deputy Minister of Information, said the Ministry would make sure the public was updated on the measures being rolled out by the Government on regular basis.
The Deputy Minister could not provide the total number of persons affected by the spillage or amount spent so far on providing relief since the state agencies responsible for those figures were still collating statistics on them.
However, she said, the VRA has allocated GHC20 million to support the evacuation efforts while private corporate entities and individuals were complementing government’s efforts with donations to the victims.
GNA