Ghana Country Report on the 7th Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction Bali, Indonesia

I bring to you warm greetings from the government and people of the Republic of Ghana.

It is seven (7) years down the line when the Sendai Framework was adopted by all Member States. Fortunately, the implementation of the Sendai Framework is being done concurrently with the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals or Agenda 2030. This also comes at a time when the reality of climate change is being felt across the world.

The implementation of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) measures  are expected to be complementary to achieve the desired impacts and outcomes of development goals on  sustainable basis. However at national level this situation appears otherwise. 

We have observed over the years, that more attention and allocation of resources are directed at CCA programs and interventions as against DRR initiatives due to the fact that CCA has a larger pool of international funding sources. For this reason,  DRR initiatives are being implemented at a much slower pace which consequently is impacting on the expected impacts and outcomes of implementing these two frameworks

In this respect, Ghana has incorporated disaster risk reduction  into it's  Medium Term Development Framework with the view to strengthening the requirement to make disaster risk reduction an integral part of all sectoral plans. 

Ghana is faced with earthquake threats since the occurrence of the last major event in 1939. In recent times, minor earthquakes and tremors have been experienced in successive intervals threatening the already vulnerable population and infrastructure. To increase our state of readiness, we  have developed and launched  a framework to refocus Earthquakes Preparedness and Response. 

On 22nd March, this year, Ghana suffered  a devastating human induced disaster in a mining community called Appeatse in the Western Region of Ghana due to  chemical explosion. All houses  and other social infrastructure  either collapsed or rendered unhabitable. 

About  one thousand (1000) persons were affected and unfortunately 13 lives lost. 

In line with Priority 4 of the SDF, Ghana has embarked on reconstruction of the affected houses ensuring incorporation of risk reduction measures to build back better. 

Excellency Co Chair, reflecting on events over the past two years, the history of DRR cannot be written without mentioning COVID-19. We are all living witnesses of the devastating effects of this global pandemic due to our inadequate preparedness and slow response. The effects of it  has plunged countries  into economic crisis irrespective of economic strength worldwide. This development has further increased poverty levels  and deepened already existing vulnerabilities across the globe.   

We take the opportunity to express our deep sympathies to all families that were affected especially those who lost  loved ones and also to businesses that have been impacted upon negatively  and recovering slowly from the pandemic.   

We  salute the gallant scientist who worked tirelessly around the clock to develop vaccines that continue to save lives across the globe. 

Excellency Co Chair, we acknowledge and pay compliments to the International Civil Defense Organisation, (ICDO) for the support extended to Ghana and donation of life-saving equipment to strengthen our effectiveness in emergency response. Indeed we value and appreciate our strong partnership in DRR. 

Again , Ghana identifies with the African position on DRR and we strongly advocate for it’s adoption by this august meeting.   

We equally acknowledge and appreciate the role of  UNDRR in the preparation and hosting of a very successful conference.  

Finally, we thank the Government and people of Indonesia for hosting this grand forum and making our stay comfortable.  

Thank You.