Statement: Anlo Youth Council reaction on the Tidal Waves at Keta

From the early hours of Tuesday November 2, 2021, virtually the entire coastline of Anlo Stretching from Aflao to Fuveme has been ravaged by tidal waves. Having assessed the situation on first-hand,  the estimation of the Anlo Youth Council is that  over one thousand five hundred (1500) households and sources of livelihood have been affected with  not less than ten thousand people displaced.

Coincidentally, this is coming at the backdrop of the ongoing Glasgow Climate Change Conference where we have been made aware that the international community has made funds available to help mitigate the impact of global warming on communities in the developing world. We would like to use this opportunity to call on government to make public its policy on coastal erosion especially the Anlo Coast which is the most vulnerable and estimated by experts to be receding at the rate of 2.2 metres per annum as against 0.6 metres by the rest of the country’s coastline. The destruction to property and the displacement of several people in peace time is a disruption to livelihood generation activities.

The impact of this large scale displacement coupled with the prolonged closure of the country’s borders as part of  measures to fight the COVID 19 pandemic has already created unsustainable, intolerable and inhumane living conditions. Government and its mandated competent agencies must as a matter of urgency respond to the disaster with a coordinated strategy to prevent losing the rest of the land strip to the sea.

We particularly entreat the  National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO)  to urgently provide relief items such as food, tents, building materials for the victims.

Thank you

Signed

VP Communication

Seth Doe

0203030010/ 0246672227