President Akufo-Addo interacting with Eric Nana Agyeman-Prempeh (right). With them is Ambrose Dery (left), Interior Minister
The National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) has revealed that a number of state buildings and installations including the seat of government – Jubilee House, Kotoka International Airport and the Akosombo Dam are sitting on an earthquake fault line.
The Director General of NADMO, Eric Agyemang-Prempeh, made this known in Accra yesterday at a conference to discuss the report of the National Committee for Earthquakes on the country’s preparedness and response in case of any earthquake.
“The fault line is here in Accra where the Jubilee House is, where Korle Bu Teaching Hospital is, where Burma Camp is, and the Ministries; they are all on top of the fault line so when earthquake strikes, it can affect any of such state institutions or state properties,” he indicated.
According to him, the fault line passes through Eastern Region, the whole of Greater Accra Region, and ends at Gomoa Nyayano in the Central Region.
He said even though the country had three major earthquakes in 1635, 1639 and 1939, there had not been any plan to contain and lessen the effects of earthquakes, should such national disaster occur.
“This is the time we have to work and prepare ourselves because anything can happen; this is a natural disaster, nobody can determine today or tomorrow, it can happen at any time,” the NADMO boss said.
The President, Nana Akufo-Addo, who was at the conference, said the history of earthquakes in Ghana and recent tremors require a proactive approach to deal with the possible impact and likely fatalities that may occur should an earthquake take place in the country.
“We in Ghana have also recorded earthquakes in the past. Indeed, our first earthquake on record is said to have occurred in 1615 and since then, other recorded earthquakes have also taken place. In 1636, an earthquake shook parts of the Western Region, burying alive a number of people, particularly miners in the Nzema area. The last destructive earthquake occurred at 7:20pm on June 22, 1939 and measured 6.5 on the Richter scale. It claimed seventeen (17) lives, injured 133 people and razed several buildings, and led to the death of several hundreds in new estates in Korle Gonno, Mamprobi and Chokor,” President Akufo-Addo stated.
He said at that time, there were only 177,000 people living in Accra.
“With the current size of the Greater Accra Region by way of population, which is estimated conservatively at 5 million persons, your guess is as good as mine with respect to the number of fatalities if a similar event is recorded today,” the President added.
President Akufo-Addo has therefore charged the engineering department of the Ministry of Works and Housing to conduct a comprehensive assessment on all public buildings and structures, to ascertain their earthquake resistance readiness and to advise government accordingly.
The President said constructing well engineered structures including dams and roads and retrofitting important public lifeline buildings such as hospitals, schools, churches and mosques cannot be compromised.
The Technical Committee on Earthquakes is chaired by Engineer Carlien Bou-Chedid.
Other members include Eric Nana Agyemang-Prempeh, Director General of NADMO; Joseph Ofei Ankrah (NADMO); Nicholas Opoku (Ghana Geological Survey Authority); Benedict Arkhurst (Land Use and Spatial Planning Authority); and Dr. Lawrence Ofori-Boadu (Ghana Health Service).
The rest are Prof. Ahmed Nuhu Zakaria (Ghana Ambulance Service); DCFO Julius Kuunuor (Ghana National Fire Service); DCOP George Tweneboah (Ghana Police Service); Ernest Kusi-Duah (Co-opted Member, National Disaster Management Organisation) and Col. M. Mustapha (Ghana Armed Forces) who doubles as the secretary to the committee.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu, Presidential Correspondent