UMaT offers expertise to manage recovery process

The Disaster and Emergency Management Hub (DEM Hub) of the University of Mines and Technology (UMaT) have expressed its readiness to provide the necessary expertise in managing the recovery process of the Appiatse community.

Additionally, the university said it was willing to avail its expertise in unravelling the causes of the incident and propose effective measures to eliminate the future occurrence of such incidents or mitigate their impacts.

A press statement, issued and signed by Dr Eric Stemn Coordinator, DEM-Hub and copied to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) has said.

“Meanwhile, to support the ongoing work, UMaT has taken quality drone images and organised a team of counsellors to interact with the people of Appiatse”, the statement said.

It further called for support for the independent investigation team to be able to do its work effectively.

“It is important that the independent investigation team be allowed to do its work and be provided with the needed support in conducting the investigation.

The focus of the investigation should be on ensuring that we learn from this incident to prevent a future recurrence”, the statement said.

It said the University remained committed to providing sustainable solutions to the mining industry and as such had taken a keen interest in this incident and carefully monitoring the ongoing public discourse

“When the incident happened, the University dispatched a team led by Dr Eric Stemn, DEM-Hub Coordinator, who together with drone experts from the University joined key stakeholders in the mining industry to assess the situation”, the statement said.

The statement expressed satisfaction with the swiftness of the response displayed by the various emergency and disaster-related management organisations.

This, it said helped prevent further escalation of the situation and mitigated the impact of the explosion.

However, the statement added that a lot remained to be achieved in terms of coordination amongst statutory disaster and emergency management organisations and the mining industry.