The European Union (EU) has released US$85,700 (€80,000) to help Ghana prepare for possible floods in the northern parts of the country.
The National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) and the Meteorological Agency have warned of heavy rains and and flooding this year.
The funding will support identification of early warning mechanisms, update of risks analysis and monitoring mechanisms, trigger anticipation actions to mitigate and/or prevent floods impacts and identify priority actions and response preparedness, a statement issued by the EU said.
“It will enable the Ghanaian Red Cross to implement both anticipatory and early actions and will prop up preparedness actions such as training of volunteers, prepositioning of response stocks that should enable quicker deployment of a response, early evacuation of people in identifies sites, simulation exercises, awareness sessions for water related diseases prior the floods season,” the statement added.
Humanitarian assistance targeted areas are the Northern, the Upper East, and the Upper West, where around 2,144,677 people are at risk.
The assistance has a particular focus on vulnerable areas where those floods would have significant consequences on agriculture and community economical resilience of riverbanks communities.
This funding is part of the EU’s overall contribution to the Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).
Ghana is recurrently affected by floods associated with both torrential rains and spillage of the Bagre dam in Burkina Faso.
The annual spilling of water from Bagre Dam in Burkina Faso makes an overflowing of all the river system in Ghana, impacting first the Northern regions and areas around the rivers, beaches and dams in Northern region, Upper East, Savannah, Northeast, and Upper West. Bagre Dam is open annually when it reaches 235 M which is the maximum level.
Already out of the seven reported high-risk regions, four have recorded incidences of flooding leading to loss of lives, property, and livelihoods.
The NADMO and the Meteorological Agency forecasted that more regions in the northern part will experience flooding because of above normal rainfall.
The European Commission is at the forefront of promoting risk reduction and anticipatory actions. Signatory to the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015-2030), the European Commission supports adopting a risk-informed approach to all EU policies and programmes. Under this approach, the EU aims to mainstream preparedness and risk reduction measures across all its humanitarian programming.
Background
The European Union, together with its Member States, is the leading donor of humanitarian aid in the world. Relief assistance is an expression of European solidarity towards people in need around the world. It aims to save lives, prevent, and alleviate human suffering and safeguard the integrity and human dignity of populations affected by natural disasters and man-made crises.
The European Union through its Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid department helps millions of victims of conflicts and disasters every year. Through its headquarters in Brussels and its global network of field offices, the EU provides assistance to the most vulnerable people based on humanitarian need alone.
The European Commission has signed a €10 million humanitarian delegation agreement with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), to support the Federation’s Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF).
Funds from the DREF are mainly allocated to ‘small-scale’ disasters, those that do not give rise to a formal international appeal.
The Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) was established in 1985 and is supported by contributions from donors.
Each time a National Red Cross or Red Crescent Society needs immediate financial support to respond to a disaster, it can request funds from the DREF.
For small-scale disasters, the IFRC allocates grants from the Fund, which can be replenished by the donors. The delegation agreement between the IFRC and ECHO enables the latter to replenish the DREF for agreed operations (within its humanitarian mandate) up to a total of €10 million.
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