The National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) is the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

agency that is responsible for the management of disasters as well as other emergencies in

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

. The board operates under Ghana's

Ministry of Interior An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, th ...

History

Ghana formed the National Disaster Management Organisation in 1996, backed by an act of

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

(Act 927) to manage disasters and emergencies. This was after Ghana had responded to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

Declaration GAD 44/236 of 1989 declaring 1990 to 1999 as the International Decade for

Natural Disaster A natural disaster is the very harmful impact on a society or community brought by natural phenomenon or Hazard#Natural hazard, hazard. Some examples of natural hazards include avalanches, droughts, earthquakes, floods, heat waves, landslides ...

Reduction (IDNDR). NADMO is part of the Ghana Ministry of Interior. It has a board of directors selected from, the Ministries of Health, Finance, Social Welfare, Interior, Information, National Mobilization Programme, Ghana Armed Forces, and

non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

s (NGOs), among others. The first board was chaired by, Brig. (Rtd.) Dr. G. K. Deh, Director of Medical Services (DMS), Ghana Armed Forces Prior to the formation of NADMO, the National Mobilization Programme—set up after the 1982–1983 crises of drought, bushfires, famine, and the deportation of 1.2 million Ghanaians from

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

—served as the implementing agency of the Disaster Relief Committee. After the formation, Kofi Portuphy, a member of the Relief Committee who had been instrumental in coordinating the drafting of the Act, became the first National Coordinator of NADMO. Below is a table of all the Director Generals of NADMO:

Functions

NADMO performs specific functions which are all aimed at ensuring that in times of emergency, the government is ready to support relief efforts. These functions are: #Rehabilitation services for victims of disasters #

Mobilization Mobilization (alternatively spelled as mobilisation) is the act of assembling and readying military troops and supplies for war. The word ''mobilization'' was first used in a military context in the 1850s to describe the preparation of the ...

of people at various levels of society to support governmental programmes #Ensuring the preparedness of the country in the management of disasters #Coordinating the activities of various governmental and non-governmental agencies in the management of disasters. The organization's mandate includes response to

earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

flood A flood is an overflow of water (list of non-water floods, or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are of significant con ...

s and rainstorms, and market fires.

Presence

The mandate of NADMO stipulates that it offers relief support in times of emergencies in any location of the country. As such, the organization has structured its offices on the national, regional, district and zonal levels.

Challenges

A major challenge that NADMO faces is lack of adequate resources to function effectively. This challenge was highlighted in March 2011, when the arrival of 16,700 Ghanaian returnees from

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and 7,000 returnees from

Côte d'Ivoire Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest city and ...

overstretched the board's resources. During such periods, appeals are sent out to the donor community for aid in the form of food, medicine, clothing, tents, mattresses, and other materiel to enable NADMO to provide basic necessities to those in need.

2011 Ivorian crisis

Over 5000 refugees entered Ghana during the post-election violence that erupted after the Ivorian presidential elections of 2011. The results of the elections showed opposition leader

Alassane Ouattara Alassane Dramane Ouattara (; ; born 1 January 1942) is an Ivorian politician and economist who has been List of heads of state of Ivory Coast, President of Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire) since 2010. An economist by profession, he worked for the I ...

won the majority of the votes cast. He was declared winner of the presidential election by the electoral body, but the then incumbent President

Laurent Gbagbo Koudou Laurent Gbagbo
, FPI website . ( G ...

, who was declared winner by the Constitutional Council, declared he would not hand over power to Mr. Ouattara. In the wake of violent protests, thousands of Ivorians fled to neighbouring countries, including Ghana. It was announced in March 2011 that NADMO would establish five

refugee camp A refugee camp is a temporary Human settlement, settlement built to receive refugees and people in refugee-like situations. Refugee camps usually accommodate displaced people who have fled their home country, but camps are also made for in ...

s in the regions that shared a border with the Côte d'Ivoire to aid these refugees. NADMO received support from other agencies such as the Ghana Refugee Board, the

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Secretariat,

UN High Commissioner for Refugees The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, l ...

UNICEF UNICEF ( ), originally the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, officially United Nations Children's Fund since 1953, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Development a ...

UN Population Fund The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is a UN agency aimed at improving reproductive and maternal health worldwide. Its work includes developing national healthcare strategies and protocols, increasing access to birth control, and leadin ...

, and other NGOs for the provision of humanitarian services to potential asylum seekers.

References

External links

National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO)
{{authority control Government ministries of Ghana 1996 establishments in Ghana Government agencies established in 1996