Disaster management in Ghana could be enhanced through the adoption of a formalized “Incident Command System” (ICS) at all levels tailored to the Ghanaian situation. Lieutenant Steve Kilde of the North Dakota National Guard of the USA said this at a three-day emergency disaster management course at Ho on Friday. The Volta region Secretariat of the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) organized it for its district coordinators and heads of disaster management related institutions in the region. He said ICS would help eliminate lingering rivalries among disaster management related institutions and stakeholders to ensure the safety of their personnel, harmonize the effective use of limited management resources and facilitate a disciplined approach to disaster management at all levels. The ICS would allow personnel from agencies to melt into a common management structure, provide logistical and administrative support to operational staff and to ensure cost effectiveness by avoiding duplication of efforts. According to Lt. Kilde, the USA’s success in managing its disasters is due largely to the adoption of ICS through legislation about 32 years ago. He noted that before then there was so much rivalry among disaster management institutions to the extent their personnel fought each other physically at disaster scenes while victims were left to their fate. Mr Doug Friez, former co-ordinator of North Dakota Homeland Security and Disaster Management, said disaster management is a shared responsibility and therefore every citizen’s duty. He said the citizenry and stakeholders in disaster management need to be constantly trained to be able to respond appropriately to disaster situations. Mr Friez added that volunteerism should be promoted and encouraged and that volunteers should be willing to offer their services without expecting any reward since they are duty bound as citizens to respond to national emergencies. Source: GNA