By Miriam Oparebea / Samuel Spio-Gabrah
Tema, Feb. 27, GNA – The newly inaugurated Tema Metropolitan Disaster Management Committee has been handed with its first major assignment, the immediate assessment and evacuation of residents of the dilapidated Kaiser Flats to avert a potential catastrophe.
Mr Dennis Nartey, the Greater Accra Regional Director of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), issued the directive during the committee’s inauguration, describing the residential structures as a disaster in waiting.
Mr Nartey warned that the buildings had deteriorated to a point where even a minor earth tremor could trigger a total collapse, endangering the lives of hundreds of residents.
“We identified one hazard at the Kaiser Flats. It’s a disaster waiting. So, Mayor, I want you to take this as your first task. Immediately, the committee is inaugurated, we should look at how fast we can evacuate those living in those dilapidated structures because at the slightest tremor, that building could come down, and we don’t want the disaster to occur,” he stated.
Mr Nartey emphasised that the current strategy of the organisation was to build urban resilience rather than focusing on post-disaster relief, noting that while Tema has set the pace as the first assembly in the Greater Accra Region to form its committee under recent ministerial instructions, the real test of its effectiveness lies in how quickly it addresses high-risk zones like the Kaiser Flats.
Ms Ebi Bright, the Tema Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE) and chairperson of the committee, backed the directive, stating that the assembly was committed to taking proactive measures.
She explained that the committee’s mandate includes the clearing of unauthorised or dangerous structures to ensure public safety, citing the need to protect innocent citizens from the consequences of structural negligence.
“But we have to do our job diligently, fairly, and firmly. We owe it to Ghana; we owe it to this city. But most of all, let us not forget that NADMO has always represented empathy. They are the only organisation that is able to marry relief with enforcement. And so let us support and move along with those principles,” she urged the committee and the members present.
GNA
Edited by Linda Asante Agyei