The West Mamprusi District in the Northern Region and the Bawku Municipal Assembly, the Garu-Tempane and the Builsa Districts in the Upper East Region which were affected by the flood last year are benefiting from a relief package worth 308,000 euros from Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC). The package include the procurement of drugs, supply of potable drinking water, registration of affected members with the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), household cash transfers and the development of geo-reference database on disaster among others. The Regional Manager of ISODEC in charge of Upper East Region, Mr Jonathan Adabre said this at a forum organized by ISODEC to brainstorm on how to develop a geo-reference database to be piloted in a district to mitigate the aftermath effects of disasters. Stakeholders including District Planning Officers, National Disaster Management Organization, Non Governmental Organizations and Environmental Protection Agency among others attended the forum. The geo-reference database, when successfully implemented, would be replicated in districts in the three Northern Regions that are prone to disasters. Mr Adabre said assorted drugs procured by ISODEC at a total cost of 7,880.16 Ghana cedis had already been distributed to flood victims in the Garu-Tempane, Builsa and West Mamprusi Districts. Mr Adabre said 30 water points in 18 communities in the West Mamprusi District had already been reconstructed at the cost of 5,650.00 Ghana Cedis. He said 350 water points in 80 communities in the Builsa District had been reconstructed at the cost of 9,375.00 Ghana cedis. He explained that the Bawku Municipal Implementation Committee had decided to use their health component share of the fund to register victims who were hardest hit with the NHIS instead of purchasing essential drugs to restock the health centre. Mr Adabre indicated that in addition, the affected victims are to benefit from a household cash transfer scheme to enable them re-acquire productive assets to improve upon their lives. He said the geo-database which ISODEC designed would be implemented and located in a selected district either in the Northern or Upper East Regions to facilitate the training of officials who would use it to assess hazards and monitor their vulnerability levels. It would also support NADMO in the districts to develop “disaster alert” and response systems, he added. Mr Adabre explained that ISODEC submitted a proposal to OXFAM-NOVIB seeking financial support to implement disaster mitigating and monitoring systems in Northern Ghana of which 308,000 euros was approved for the exercise following the 2007 disaster in the three northern regions. Source: GNA