Ntabanu (Ash), April 4, GNA - A rainstorm swept through Ntabanu, a farming community in the Atwima-Nwabiagya district of Ashanti at the weekend, destroying the local primary school and ripped off the roofs of 15 residential buildings thereby rendering about 120 people homeless. Vida Pokuaa aged two, was seriously injured when a coconut hit her in the stomach.

Nana Kwaku Appiah-Adu, Chairman of the local unit committee and ex-Gyasehene of Toase and Opanin Kwame Mensah, regent of the community disclosed this to Mr Eddy Obeng-Darko, Atwima-Nwabiagya District Director of Education on Monday when he inspected the destroyed school building and interacted with the people.

Opanin Mensah said the 113 pupils have been accommodated temporarily in an abandoned co-operative cocoa shed. He gave the assurance that the people will offer communal labour regularly to reconstruct the destroyed building and appealed to the district assembly, the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), individuals and organisations to assist them with building materials.

Nana Appiah-Adu said the displaced persons were currently staying with friends and relatives, while others were living in churches. Mr Kwabena Mprah, a member of the unit committee said the disaster had seriously affected farming and other economic activities in the community and called for urgent assistance. Mr Obeng-Darko sympathised with the people and said the education directorate, with support from the assembly was already putting up a three-classroom block to replace the old block, which had been destroyed by the storm.

He said the directorate had already provided the community with 4,000 burnt bricks, six packets of roofing sheets and quantities of iron rods for the project. Mr. Obeng-Darko therefore, asked the people to rekindle their self-help spirit and mobilise every available resources to complete the new block before schools re-open next term.