DISASTER MANAGEMENT CYCLE Disaster Management cycle demonstrates the process by which organisations, governments and civil society

carry out programs to lessen the impact of disasters, their actions during the disaster and immediately after the disaster and the measures taken to recover after the disaster. There are four phases of disaster management that form a cycle. These are mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery. Mitigation and preparedness are processes that are put in place before the occurrence of a disaster. During the occurrence of a disaster humanitarian organisations take part in the immediate response and the recovery phases (Warfield, 2011). Mitigation suppresses the effects of a disaster and preparedness plans how to respond should a disaster occur. Response is the attempt to minimize the hazards created by disasters whereas recovery phase restores the affected area into normalcy.

Disaster management cycle

PERENNIAL FLOODING IN GHANA Ghana has two main seasons; the dry and wet seasons. The rainy season forms part of the wet season. The rainy season begins from March to November of every year in the northern part of Ghana and from April to mid-November in the southern zone of which Accra is part. Rainfall patterns are not constant but vary according to a location (Afriyie and Adukpo, 2006) and these variations affect agriculture, transportation and the entire economy of a region and the people that exist in these regions. The variations may lead to floods or droughts depending on the intensity. The world weather information service and the Ghana Meteorological services department predicted more rains this year. On October 26, 2011 continuous heavy downpour in Accra, Eastern and Volta regions respectively caused floods affecting more than 43,000 people (USAID, 2011). The United Nations and National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) on October 31, 2011 reported that the flood had resulted in 14 deaths. It had damaged buildings, resources and approximately 480 acres of farmland. The USAID reported that the flood situation was declared a disaster by the United States Ambassador to Ghana. By this declaration it clearly showed that the first two phases i.e. mitigation and preparedness were not applied in our situation. The government of Ghana after the flood visited the affected areas and promised to provide relief items to the affected people. The United States ambassador donated $50,000.00 each to the Accra flood victims and the northern regions victims (USAID, 2011). The donations by the president and the ambassador confirmed that Ghana was used to the response and the recovery phases of the disaster management cycle. It is evident that the National Disaster Management Organisation had not done enough in terms of mitigation and preparedness phases and needed to educate the public more on these two so that the awareness would be part of the people.

References 1. Corina Warfield The Disaster Management Cycle http://www.gdrc.org/uem/disasters/1-dm_cycle.html

2. Labaleine DRDM Seychelles Disaster Preparedness and Response, 2010. http://drdm-drdm.blogspot.com/

3. USAID.2011Disaster assistance: Most Recent Disaster Declaration http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/humanitarian_assistance/disaster_assistance/countries/gh ana/template/index.html 4. World Bank.2011As Ghana Grows, Demand for Water Follows http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:22800031~ pagePK:64257043~piPK:437376~theSitePK:4607,00.html