The Upper East Regional Minister, Alhassan Samari has taken delivery of relief items estimated at 1.5 billion for distribution to flood victims in the region.

The first consignment of three articulated truckloads from the government was made up of one thousand bags of rice, a thousand blankets, one thousand lanterns, a thousand packets of roofing sheets, fifty boxes of roofing nails and three hundred thousand bottles cooking oil.

Rainbow Aid, an Accra based NGO set up by people of the Northern Region based in Accra to assist the flood victims made the second donation of relief items valued at over ¢500,000.000 million to the Regional Minister as its contribution toward alleviating the hardship of the victims.

Mr Paul Afoko, Chief Executive Officer of Rainbow Aid, who made the donation listed the items as four thousand blankets, a thousand bags each of maize, rice, millet, gari, sugar and bales of used clothes.

Mr Afoko said the NGO "will stay on top of the situation until all those affected by the flood are adequately resettled."

Other items included medicaments such as ORS, 5000 doses of tetracycline as well as malaria, diarrhea and cholera drugs.

In addition, a medical team has been dispatched by the NGO to the area to take care of victims who are likely to be exposed to water borne diseases.

The leader of the medical team, Dr A. Afoko, appealed to the victims not to drink water likely to be contaminated.

Receiving the items, Mr Samari, commended both the government and Raibow Aid for their quick responses to assist victims.

He gave the assurance that everything possible would be done to ensure that the items reached the victims in charge of the distribution not to divert the items.

He further asked those living in low lying areas to move up ground as the Meteorological Service Department has forcasted more storms and rains.

Mr Kofi Ada, Minister of Energy and MP for Navrongo Central, who was present was grateful to the government but said he was there with mixed feelings because whereas the flood water was gradually filling the Akosombo dam, lives of his constituents were in danger.

He however appealed to residents of the region to stop cropping close to river banks since they risk loosing their crops as well as causing possible siltation of the rivers.

Torrential rains in the Upper East Region since August 24 have flooded homes and rendered nearly 10,000 people homeless.

They have also collapsed the major bridge linking districts and towns thus cutting them off from the rest of the country.

Source: The Ghanaian Times