By Mohammed Balu,GNA
Tuma, (UWR), Nov. 21, GNA – More than 200 pupils of the Stadium Residential Basic School have benefited from a comprehensive sensitisation programme on international disaster risk reduction practices.
This forms part of the activities to mark the 2025 International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction (IDDRR) celebration.
The event, held under the global theme, “Fund Resilience, Not Disasters,” was joint jointly organised by the Sissala East Municipal Assembly and the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO).
The exercise sought to empower young learners with knowledge and skills to reduce the risks and impacts associated with natural and human-induced disasters.
Delivering a speech on behalf of the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Mr Adamu B. Yakubu, the Municipal Deputy Director Madam Hilda Boro stressed the urgent need for Ghana to transition from reactive emergency responses toward strategic investments in prevention and community resilience.
“We in the Sissala East Municipality are no strangers to disasters, droughts, floods, bushfires, and high temperatures, which remained a growing threat and it was time we focused more on building resilience than responding to disasters after they strike,” he said.
The MCE outlined several notable interventions being implemented by the Assembly in recent years to include the planting of over 74,000 tree seedlings under the tree for life restoration initiative to combat land degradation, the development of a 99 hectares of firebreaks and woodlots under the Ghana Landscape Restoration and Small-Scale Mining Project (GLRSSMP).
The others were the implementation of the Ghana Shea Landscape Emission Reduction Project (GSLERP) to protect vegetation and support climate adaptation and the installation of six solar-powered micro-irrigation systems to boost dry-season farming across five communities.
He also mentioned the distribution of more than 10,000 guinea fowl keets to 1,005 farmers under the Sustainable Agriculture Development Programme (SADEP) to improve food security.
Mr Yakubu further assured that Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) strategies would be mainstreamed into the Municipality’s 2026–2029 Medium- term Development Plan to better address challenges such as bushfires and illegal land use.
The MCE encouraged pupils to become “champions of resilience” by avoiding bush burning, protecting the environment, and supporting tree planting initiatives.
Mr Nansia Iddrisu, the Sissala East Municipal NADMO Director, underscored the importance of community participation in reducing disaster vulnerability.
He noted that although fire outbreaks reduced in 2025 compared to the previous years, bushfires still destroyed more than 209 acres of farmland in 2024.
To address this, NADMO trained over 1,000 farmers in Bawiesibelle, Banu, and Santijan on creating fire belts around farmlands and adopting safer land management practices.
Mr Iddrisu outlined the four critical phases of effective disaster management preparedness including desilting gutters, creating fire belts, and proper land through response with efficient, coordinated action when disasters occur.
He urged the pupils and community members to actively participate in local disaster management efforts, emphasising collective responsibility.
GNA
Edited by Caesar Abagali/ Christabel Addo