Bunkpurugu-Yunyoo flood victims get help

Help has finally come to the victims of torrential rains that caused havoc in the Bunkpurugu-Yunyoo District in the Northern Region, that rendered thousands of residents in that area homeless.

Touched by the plight of the 5,592 victims of the disaster, the management of the Ghana Oil Company Limited (GOIL) has responded to the call of the victims by presenting some relief items to them. The flood victims have run out of food because their livestock and foodstuff were washed away as a result of five days of torrential rains.

According to the District Co-ordinator of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), Mr Wuni Sugri, there was no relief items for the victims at the time of filing this report.

It was against this backdrop that the GOIL management presented to the victims 100 maxi bags of rice, 15 cartons of cooking oil, 20 students mattresses and 50 cartons of GOILTox mosquito spray.

The items are valued at GH¢20,000.

The Zonal Manager of GOIL in charge of the three Northern Regions, Mr Michael Lagble, who presented the items, hinted that the company performed such functioned as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility Programme.

He expressed the hope that the items would get to the affected persons, adding that "it is when we put smiles on their faces that we can also sit back and say we have done something good for the vulnerable in the society."

The Member of Parliament for Bunkpurugu, Mr Solomon Boar, who received the items on behalf of the victims, noted that the gesture by the company would motivate and encourage other organisations to emulate that example.

Eight hundred and five houses and five hundred and thirty-eight acres of farmland were also destroyed by the rains. Eleven out of the 21 zones in the district were affected by the disaster. The communities include Bunkpurugu, Yunyoo, Najong Number One, Najong Number Two and Binde.

By Vincent Amenuveve/Daily Graphic/Ghana