Editorial

Inauguration of National Earthquake Preparedness and Response C’ttee, timely

The Ministry of the Interior on Tuesday inaugurated a 10-member committee tasked with developing a comprehensive framework for national response to earthquakes.

The committee is also to identify and outline the key measures that must be undertaken by relevant agencies to empower the communities to be well prepared and resilient for reduction of seismic risk.

Furthermore, they are to outline other response measures required by stakeholders and agencies in the event of an earthquake and recovery phase.

They are also to evaluate the capacities of relevant bodies mandated with national response to identify resource gaps and recommend measures to augment their capabilities towards effective response and also determine the kind of support that may be required.

Indeed, the Ghanaian Times commends the government for responding to the call made by the public to come out with a response plan for earthquakes.

The call was made in the aftermath of the recent earth tremor to the government requesting that it establishes preparedness plan to deal with the effect of an earthquake in the country.

In the past year, the country, especially parts of Accra, has experienced series of earth tremors ranging between 2.6 and 3.9 magnitudes on a Richster scale.

The latest earth tremor had created anxiety among those living in the earthquake prone areas and it is timely that a committee has been inaugurated to ready the country in the event of a major quake.

The establishment of the committee is a necessary intervention to ensure that if an earthquake occurs, the country would be ready.

While we are at it, we urge the government to resource the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) and the Ghana Geological Service, adequately and given the appropriate equipment to be able to undertake their mandate.

All other agencies that will be needed to provide relief services should the unexpected happen, must be given the needed support to build capacities of personnel.

We are confident that the men and women assembled together with members from disaster management organisations, would quickly come up or develop a comprehensive framework that would be used in case disaster occurs.

No one knows when a disaster would strike and, therefore, it is important that all efforts are made to get the country ready through public education so that each and everyone would know his or her responsibilities in response to an earthquake.

We do not have to wait anymore because the frequency of earth tremors recorded recently is scary.

Indeed, the establishment of the committee is timely and we commend the Ministry of the Interior for responding positively to public demand.

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