Abstract
In response to increasing flood disasters and their impact worldwide, countries all over the world including Ghana, have formed disaster management institutions to help manage the flood activities and reduce their negative impacts. Despite the establishment of National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) in Ghana to implement preparedness measures among other measures/activities to reduce the negative impacts of flood activities, subsequent flood reports in the city of Accra indicated that the impacts were rather increasing instead of reducing. The study, therefore, assessed the preparedness levels for flood disasters before the occurrence of the 2001 and 2007 flood disasters in Ga West District in Accra. Through purposive sampling, two officials, one from NADMO and Ghana Meteorological Agency (GMet), were chosen for interview. The NADMO official answered various interview questions concerning preparedness measures implemented in the study area while the GMet official answered questions regarding GMet’s ability to predict heavy rainstorms that cause flood disasters ahead of their occurrence. Some household heads, mainly landlords, were also chosen through simple random sampling to respond to questionnaire regarding preparedness measures implemented by NADMO in the study area before the two flood disasters, and the various preparedness or coping strategies households adopted to reduce the negative impacts of the flood disasters on them. Direct observation by the help of photographs was also used to assess the coping strategies of households in the area. The study found that, neither NADMO nor other agencies ever carried out any preparedness measures in the study areas before the two flood disasters occurred due to resource challenges. It also became obvious that GMet possesses the capacity to predict heavy rainstorms at least 24 hours ahead before they occur and did predict the 2001 and 2007 rainstorm before the two flood disasters. But it was found out that only few people received the warning and none of these people acted on the warning. It was also obvious that households in the study area adopted various coping strategies, but they still suffered severe negative impacts of the flood disasters. The study concluded that preparedness levels in the study areas before the 2001 and 2007 flood disasters was generally very poor, hence might be responsible for the increasing incidence of flood disasters in study area and the city of Accra as a whole. Keywords: flood preparedness measures, Household coping strategies, Negative flood disasters impacts, Flood hazard, Flood prone communities, Household preparedness strategies, Accra city. DOI: 10.7176/JEES/10-12-04 Publication date: December 31 st 2020
Highlights
The frequency and extent of flooding globally with their associated impacts are expected to increase over the 50 to 100 years due to the effects of global warming and climate change(IPCC 2001), and other factors (Evans et al 2004)
3.0 Results and Discussion 3.1 Introduction This study assessed the preparedness level for flood disasters in flood prone communities of Ga West District before 2001 and 2007 flood disasters. It assessed the preparedness measures implemented in the flood prone communities to prepare residents to respond to flood disasters and the coping strategies households adopted in these communities against flood disasters
The availability of indigenous knowledge of coping strategies household adopted against flood disasters in flood prone communities such as communities of Ga West District would provide useful information for planners and policy makers on the planning and policy setting for more viable disaster mitigation and response measures
Summary
The frequency and extent of flooding globally with their associated impacts are expected to increase over the 50 to 100 years due to the effects of global warming and climate change(IPCC 2001), and other factors (Evans et al 2004). This problem is being compounded by an ongoing rapid urbanization of cities worldwide which is making more people and properties exposed to flood hazards, making cities most vulnerable regions to the impact of flood hazards (Stern, 2007). Implementation of preparedness measures/activities, in especially flood prone communities, was a key strategy to be implemented by NADMO to reduce the negative impacts of flood disasters on the vulnerable population. Preparedness measures, generally, refer to actions in advance to limit the impact of hazards (ISDR, 2002), while coping strategies refer to measures adopted by disaster prone communities to help manage the impact of disasters on them (Twigg et al, 2000)
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