Help curb ‘blasting’ menace in Nkukua-Buoho
Nkukua-Buoho, a village in the Afigya Kwabre South District in the Ashanti Region of Ghana, is faced with a social canker known as “Blasting”.
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This refers to an explosive way of getting rid of steady rocks or big stones to create space for infrastructure development and also to make it easier for the tapping of natural resources.
Explosives such as ammonium nitrate, among others, are blasted in this rocky-dominated area to remove rocks to be able to construct roads or tunnels, in the construction industry and even in the mining industry to be able to access natural resources.
Nkukua-Buoho village gets deafening as these explosives are blasted. This is not healthy as the noise pollution can adversely impact the sense of hearing of the residents.
The residue of the explosives can mix up with the soil and emit harmful gases, which, when inhaled, could result in cardiovascular diseases, among others.
Not only that, but even the structures in Buoho have to succumb to the harsh impulses resulting from the blasting beneath the earth. The walls of the buildings do not have a choice but to develop cracks as a way of announcing their plight. The buildings that can no longer stand these unhealthy actions would have to resort to collapsing as an alternative.
In the worst case, as I faithfully pray against, a building can collapse onto the dwellers, and this can result in the victims sustaining serious injuries or even death.
This sends extra expenses onto the already bewailing purses of the residents, as they will have to renovate or rebuild their buildings every now and then, as a result of the plight that has bewitched the village.
We are, therefore, calling on the government to help curb this menace to avoid plunging Nkukua-Buoho village into unintended consequences.
Alhassan Ramatu,
University of Media, Arts and Communication,
E-mail: [email protected]