Red Cross provides relief services to 2000 Appiatse victims

The Ghana Red Cross Society is providing relief services to 2000 victims of the Appiatse explosion through its Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF).

The victims, from 400 households, would be offered first aid services, shelter, hygiene promotion, health awareness, and psychosocial first aid.

There would also be cash disbursement, all at the cost of GHC 1,174,760.00

In a press briefing, Kwame Gyimah-Akwafo, President of, Ghana Red Cross Society, said the “DREF will go a long way to help the Appiatse community and to console them.”

He said the Society would continue to collaborate with agencies like the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), National Ambulance Services and local authorities to support the victims.

Mr. Gyimah-Akwafo said the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) and Red Crescent would help in a family reunion and contact tracing.

The National Society’s Disaster Management Department had dispatched 20 shelter kits and 20 family tents to about 300 displaced people, including women and children, camped at a relief centre at Bogoso.

They had earlier sent the District Disaster Response Teams (DDRTs) with 52 team members from Tarkwa and Prestea to the centre for search and rescue exercises.

Reports form the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), indicated that over 300 households had been destroyed by the blast and approximately 1,500 people were rendered homeless.

Mr Gyimah-Akwafo said the Ghana Red Cross Society would continue to complement the Government’s effort in areas of food distribution, emergency responses, health education and social mobilisation.

“We will engage the communities and continue to promote water, sanitation and hygiene,” he added.

A truck, conveying chemicals for mining on January 20, 2022, exploded at Appiatse along the Tarkwa-Bogoso-Ayamfuri road killing 14 persons and injuring 179.