Deputy Director of the National Disaster Management (NADMO), Seji Saji Amedonu, has denied presenting only seven student mattresses to victims of the Keta tidal waves attack in the Volta Region.
Speaking on the claims alleged by residents of Keta, Mr. Amedonu stated that NADMO officials would not carry such a small number of mattresses to the affected area considering the number of victims affected by the wave.
“That cannot be correct. I won’t carry seven mattresses all the way from Accra to the affected victims.”
Seji Saji Amedonu
Mr. Amedonu explained that NADMO’s organizational setup is such that, a response is prepared immediately there is a disaster.
“Normally when incidents like this happen NADMO staff are deployed across the affected area. NADMO staff are deployed across Ghana; we have NADMO represented in every district and we have them in zones. So as the incident is unfolding, there is already what we would do”.
Seji Saji Amedonu
This explanation follows the NADMO office being criticized for not providing enough relief items to persons affected by the tidal waves disaster in Keta in the Volta Region.
NADMO’s plan was to provide to safe-haven victims
Touching on NADMO’s response to last week’s disaster, Seji Saji Amedonu noted that the plan was first to provide some form of relief to victims who had been moved to safe-havens. He indicated that as at Tuesday after the disaster, the districts affected by the disaster had received some forms of relief.
“In the particular example of Kedzikope, it was the community center that was the safe haven. This is where we did the presentation of all the items we brought. We had a bigger truck behind us and we had a few items on the pickup. On that pickup were seven mattresses which were for a symbolic presentation but the bigger truck was full of items. At the end of the day, almost all the three districts had something that Tuesday. It could not be seven items”.
Seji Saji Amedonu
Mr. Amedonu averred that the Disaster management’s main target was to attend to victims in the safe haven first before attending to the other affected persons since those in the safe havens did not have anywhere or relatives to go to.
Mr. Amedonu also disclosed that more relief items were presented to victims on Saturday, November 13, 2021. He added that NADMO provided its officials with the data and where the people are for those distributions to be done.
“We sent a full truckload of items and we had news that corporate Ghana was coming to do something this morning. So, when they came, together, they did the presentation to the Regional Minister and had their way of distribution. I personally went to some of the communities to do some distributions”.
Seji Saji Amedonu
Tidal waves have displaced several residents in the Keta Municipality of the Volta Region. The tidal waves that affected Keta and its environs on Sunday, November 7, 2021 has destroyed properties and rendered about 700 people homeless in the area. The affected communities include Kedzikope, Keta Central and Abutiakope.
