Mr. Caesar Kale, Deputy Upper West Regional Minister, has appealed to landowners to stop selling land that are situated on water ways to private developers.
He also advised State Agencies involved in land administration to also stop the practice of condoning with landowners and developers in the acquisition of lands that are on water ways to help avoid floods and its associated disasters.
Mr. Kale made the appeal at the Regional Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation meeting in Wa, at the weekend.
He noted that natural disasters were inevitable but there should be concerted efforts not to induce them to and to manage them properly when they occur.
He called for an attitudinal change and a sense of responsibility towards disaster prevention and management in the communities, which must stop the practice of dumping garbage in drains.
Mr. Kale said government was committed to preventing disasters and had put in place strategies such clean up exercises and tree planting to help reduce disasters.
He called on the people to stop the perennial bush fires, a practice that was causing severe environmental degradation leading to floods and deficiency in food production.
Mr. Kale urged Ghanaians not to politicize the demolition of structures on water ways in Accra and some other cities because that would not be in the best interest of the nation.
Mrs. Diana Boakye, a Director at the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) in-charge of Monitoring Information and Training, said disaster risk reduction should be everybody's business.
She said the United Nations Disaster reports indicated that disasters had affected about 200 million people in the last two decades and called for multi-sectoral approach to help reduce disasters.
"A disaster in one community or region in the world affects the entire world and this calls for resource mobilisation to help NADMO identify risk prone areas as well as human activities that are likely to cause disasters in the communities," she explained.
Mrs Boakye called on members of the Regional Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation to educate the public and school children on disasters and their prevention and management.
Naa Bob Loggah, Chairman of the Regional Platform, said prevention played an important role to reducing disasters and that disaster prevention should be the concern of all and not be seen as a duty of NADMO alone.
Alhaji Seidu Bawa, Upper West Regional Coordinator of NADMO, appealed to the government to provide vehicles to his outfit to enable it to effectively carry out its official duties.
The meeting was to offer members of the Regional Platform the opportunity to share ideas and draw a strategic plan to help reduce conditions of hazards and disasters.