Ghanaian govt pumps out fund to combat seismic threats

The government of Ghana has spent GH¢ 2.8 million to fight the challenges with Ghana Digital Seismic Network. The invested amount involves the cost of satellite renewal, cost of establishing solar power systems, cost of spare parts and cost of service level agreement.

The announcement was recently made by Ghana’s Lands and Natural Resources Minister, Kwaku Asomah-Cheremeh who made the statement at the Ministry of Information Meet The Press Series in the capital city of Accra. The strategy is the prepare the nation to manage future cases of earthquakes or earth tremors.

The West African country suffered two shocks with magnitudes 2.8 and 3.9 on January 13 and March 2 this year (respectively). Following the tremors, a committee comprising of 10 head members was unveiled by the Minister of Interior, Mr. Ambrose Dery. The committee is intended to develop a Comprehensive Framework for Refocusing National Earthquake Preparedness and Response within the country.

On the other hand, the committee is likely to identify and outline key measures that should be undertaken by relevant agencies to empower communities to be well prepared and resilient for reduction of seismic risk, outline other response measures required by stakeholders or agencies in the event of an earthquake, to include the recovery phase, and evaluate the capacities of relevant bodies mandated with national response to identify resource gaps and recommend measures to augment their capabilities towards effective response, Space in Africa noted.