The National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) has organised a two- week training course on International Disaster Management, to educate stakeholders on the best practices of disaster management.

The International Disaster Management Course (IDMC) which was in collaboration with Bournemouth University Disaster Management Centre was aimed at ensuring effective collaboration between NADMO and stakeholders to work effectively to make Ghana resilient to disaster.

Mr Sylvester Azantilow, Deputy National Coordinator f NADMO commended Bournemouth University for coming to Ghana for the third year to make the course accessible to the Organisation and its stakeholders.

He described the course which started three years ago as valuable.

“Few weeks after our closing ceremony last year, NADMO and our stakeholders were called upon to respond to the Allied Cargo Air disaster. The knowledge and insight we had gained from the IDMC helped us in the discharge of our duties,” he said.

He noted that the same achievements were repeated in the response, recovery and rehabilitation exercises when the Melcom store building collapsed in December 2012.

“We are proud of our accomplishments in the two disasters mainly due to what we had learnt from the two previous IDMC”, he said.

According to Mr Azantilow, this year’s course would help resolve effective disaster management that required integrative approach.

He said the resources NADMO possess collectively with its stakeholders including communication, contacts, finances, messages, data and functions must be coordinated effectively.

He pointed out that the main problem facing NADMO was how to bring all resources together in a coordinated manner for disaster management.

“It is my hope that at the end of the course, we would have learnt the best way to pull our resources together,” he said.

“There is the need for us to improve on how we communicate with each other to manage disasters effectively in the country.

“The key…is how to integrate the roles and responsibilities of different national actors for effective emergency response.”

Mr Michael Evans, Director of Disaster Management Centre of Bournemouth University commended NADMO for their support to the course.

He expressed the hope that the participants had achieved specific targets to make Ghana disaster free.