The National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) of the La-Nkwantanang-Madina Municipal Assembly (LaNMMA) on Thursday observed the World Disaster Day on the theme "Knowledge for Life' at the premises of the La-Nkwantanang-Madina Cluster of Schools in Accra.

Addressing the gathering, Mr. Morrison Agbemafle, Chief Planning Officer of LaNMMA said disasters can be classified into two, natural and man-made, and that, man-made disasters can be prevented or managed.

He said a typical man-made disaster was the June 3 disaster at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle, where refuse and other materials dumped in gutters and the Odaw river, caused the drains and the river to overflow its banks.

Mr Agbemafle said building on water ways could also lead to flooding after a heavy rainfall and entreated the public and the school children to dump their refuse at the designated places and also stop littering indiscriminately to avoid such man-made disasters.

He advised the public to switch off all electrical gadgets before they leave home for work to avoid fire outbreaks.

The LaNMMA Chief Planning Officer called on the school authorities to plant trees on the compound to serve as wind-breakers and urged the teachers to educate their pupils on what to do during disasters.

Madam Priscillar Anima Siaw, the LaNMMA Director of Health, who spoke on cholera, said the disease is a oral-faecal one, which emanates from contaminated water and food, and that, last year a lot of people contracted the disease with few deaths.

She said this year only a few cases were recorded but the patients came from other municipalities and were treated and discharged.

She advised the pupils to always wash their hands with soap and under running water and also eat hot food.

Mr. Lambert Kwara, a Sanitation Officer from the LaNMMA Environmental Unit said “sanitation is a way of life and must come from within the people”, and that, “it is nourished by knowledge and grows as an obligation and an ideal in human relation.”

Mr. Kwara urged the public to ensure good sanitation practices since communicable diseases occur in insanitary conditions and asked tenants to report any landlord who refuses to build toilet facilities in their premises to the Sanitation Unit of LaNMMA for sanctions to be taken against them.

The observation of the World Disaster Day was attended by school pupils, market women, queen mothers, chiefs, Assemblymen/women and staff of the NADMO and it was chaired by Alhaji Mohammed Imam, the LaNMMA NADMO coordinator.