Mahama Abdulai Silimboma, Northern Regional Coordinator of the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO), has indicated that the Tamale Central Market is at the risk of a fire disaster due to congestion and poor electrical wiring.

He has, therefore, called for an immediate decongestion of the market and the provision of fire fighting mechanisms in order to avert a fire disaster.

Alhaji Silimboma made this statement at a day’s workshop in Tamale organized by the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) and the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) to strategise and deliberate on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) issues in the area, especially as the raining season is about to sets in.

Alhaji Silimboma mentioned floods, bush fires, road accidents, rainstorms and outbreak of epidemics as some of the common disasters that often occurred in the Northern Region and urged stakeholders to be wary of the situation.

He said through the interventions of SADA, the government had supported 2,700 households that were affected by floods in 2010 in 16 districts of the Northern Region, and that a total of 450 bags of seed maize and 10,000 bags of fertilizer were distributed to the victims.

Mr. Chrys Anab, Coordinator of Social Development and Gender at SADA indicated that the Authority was ready to collaborate with existing stakeholders to address all development related issues in the Region.

He encouraged participants to serve as stakeholders and participate actively in sensitizing the public to reduce disasters, saying that SADA would incorporate any ideas and experiences in addressing disasters.

Mr. Anab said SADA would map out a more systematic approach in dealing with disasters in a more sustainable way instead of using the fire fighting approach.