Ghana needs more awareness on disaster risk management –GAYO to government

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The Programs Officer for Green Africa Youth Organization (GAYO), Miss Betty Osei Bonsu has called on government to create and intensify awareness campaigns on disaster risk reduction in the country.

According to her, citizens need to understand the existence of all natural disasters which are bound to happen because of human behaviours with regard to the environment.

She said creating awareness about disasters will go a long way to help reduce the impact of such occurrences on the citizenry and the country at large.

Speaking to the media at the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction Quiz Competition held in Accra, Miss Osei Bonsu said the competition was organised to create awareness about disaster risk reduction since most Ghanaians think occurrences such as floods are natural which she said is absolutely not true.

“Government has to create more awareness about these disasters and that is what we at GAYO in collaboration Ghana National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO), Africa Youth Advisory Board for Disaster Risk Reduction (AYARB_DRR) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) have started through the quizzes.

“We had flooding in the Northern Sector and these are things people think are natural occurrences but they are not. They are things induced by humans through littering and clogging of gutters etc. So it is time for us to create awareness that disasters are real and its risks are real”, she said.

Miss Osei Bonsu said GAYO has taken it upon itself to educate the youth in order to raise a generation who are conscious of disasters and its effects.

The Quiz

The quiz was organized as part of activities to mark this year’s International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction and aims at educating young people and raising awareness on the basic principles of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), the Sendai Framework for DRR (SFDRR), African Program of Action (PoA), and their connection to the SDGs.

It also hopes to promote Ghana’s strategy on engaging young people in Disaster Risk Reduction, Recovery Information on COVID-19 and Ghana’s National Development Agenda.

The exciting competition tied among all the three schools during the first two rounds. Additional questions then needed to be developed to break the tie to decide which school emerged the winner among the three.

The contesting schools were Sammo Senior High School, Tepa Senior High School, Serwaa Nyarko Senior High School and Bolga Senior High School. The schools were drawn from Ghana’s Northern, Middle, and Southern belts.

After a tough contest on What Do You Know on GTV, Tepa SHS emerged winners of the second edition of the competition.

About Green Africa Youth Organization (GAYO)

Green Africa Youth Organization (GAYO) is a youth-led gender-balanced advocacy group committed to sustainable development. DRR fits into GAYO’s overall strategy of contributing to sustainable development because if disaster risks are not reduced, they can reverse or stagnate whatever developments a country has achieved.

GAYO’s vision is to create and sustain a healthy natural environment. To achieve this vision, GAYO facilitates the capacity building of young people to provide solutions and take action on pressing environmental issues.

About Africa Youth Advisory Board on DRR (AYAB_DRR)

Africa Youth Advisory Board on DRR (AYAB_DRR) is a board instituted under the Africa Union Commission (AUC) to facilitate the meaningful engagement of young people in DRR at all levels.

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization UNESCO Accra Office is a specialized agency of the United Nations aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, the sciences, and culture.

Source:  Daily Mail GH||Nana Kwabena Agyare