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“We served notice of a possible storm at about 5.38pm on June 3, but city authorities and disaster management agencies in the country failed to acknowledge it. You give warnings and people do not even care whatever you are going to say. People do not even take warning seriously.”
The Ghanaweb News Portal recounts the story of Charles York, the head of research at the Ghana Meteorological Agency (GMet), who made the above statement following the June 3, 2015 twin flood and fire disaster in Accra. The revelation of inadequate response to disaster risk warnings from the GMet is not simply about failure to take warning seriously, but rather it raises questions about household and community engagement in disaster risk reduction in Ghana. According to Covello et al (2001) effective risk communication practices enable stakeholders to provide the knowledge needed for informed decision-making about risks, build trust, and engage in dialogue aimed at reaching consensus. The uptake of disaster risk warnings by at risk populations depend on the ability of government institutions to deliver programs effectively in ways that are culturally sensitive and using approaches that have been previously understood by households and communities through consultation (Covello et al., 2001).
Therefore, many authors maintain that if victims continue to suffer heavy losses, then the underlying factors and explanations should be examined to help in crafting proactive disaster management plans, policies and programmes (Morrow, 1999; Watson & Albritton, 2001; Wiedemann & Mertens, 2005). In the case of Ghana, the country’s long experience with hazards should have led to the development and implementation of robust strategies to prevent and mitigate the impacts of disasters, but this is often not the case (Okyere et al, 2013; Amoako & Frimpong Boamah, 2015). Furthermore, there is poor coordination among the various state agencies connected to disaster management which include the GMet, National Disaster Management Organisation, Ghana National Fire Service, Ghana Ambulance Service, Town and Country Planning Department, Security Services, Environmental Protection Agency and Hydrological Services Department (Aboagye et al, 2013). Many authors argue that especially in the global south, losses associated with major disasters such as floods and diseases, are mainly due to poor coordination and ineffective communication among disaster management actors (Eisenman et al., 2009; Burke et al., 2012; Nepal et al., 2012; Guha-Sapir et al., 2015). For example, poor coordination in flood control in Ghana, led to the death of 145 people and displaced about 700,000 in 1995 (Aboagye, 2012). Another example, was the combined flood and fire disaster in 2015, which led to the death of over 159 people.