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The Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company Limited (BOST) has donated assorted relief items worth GH¢100,000 to support flood victims at Buipe in the Central Gonja District in the Savannah Region.
The items included 100 bags of rice, 70 cartons of cooking oil and 1,000 bags of sachet water.
A month-old flood, occasioned by the overflow of water from the Black Volta, coupled with torrential rainfall, has caused massive devastation in Buipe and its environs.
So far, more than 6,000 people have been displaced, while a number of structures, including houses, schools and health facilities, have been submerged, according to the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO).
Presenting the items to the Central Gonja District Assembly for onward distribution to the victims, the Head of Corporate Communication and External Affairs of BOST, Marlick Adjei, said the donation was to help alleviate the plight of the victims.
As a company that operates in the area, he said BOST remained committed to ensuring that it put smiles on the faces of the victims and supported them to bounce back stronger.
He indicated that the company had taken urgent steps to provide the affected communities with boreholes to prevent the possible outbreak of waterborne diseases and ensure the general well-being of the victims.
Receiving the items, the District Chief Executive for Central Gonja, Iddrisu Salia Kamara, thanked the company for the gesture and pledged to ensure equitable distribution of the items to the beneficiaries.
He, however, appealed for more support from benevolent organisations, philanthropists and the general public to alleviate the plight of the victims.
Meanwhile, the government has hinted that residents of flood-prone areas will be permanently relocated to higher ground.
This is to provide a lasting solution to the perennial displacement of the residents.
This came to light when members of the Inter-ministerial Committee on floods, led by the Chief of Staff, Akosua Frema Osei-Opare, visited Buipe to assess the flood situation in the area, and to recommend ways to address the perennial flooding issue.
To make the relocation plans a reality, the Paramount Chief of the Buipe Traditional Area, Buipewura Abdulai Jinapor II, said he had allocated tracts of land to the government for the resettlement of the victims.
