The timely advice from the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Directorate of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) prevented what could have been a black Sunday in the Sekondi.
Last Saturday, NADMO officials urged the occupants of the two-storey building located at Pariscoa, a suburb of Sekondi, to evacuate as a result of deficiencies identified.
The building collapsed a few hours later as a result of torrential rainfall, which lasted almost the whole day.
The Metropolitan Coordinator of NADMO, Hajj Abubakar Kamal, told the Daily Graphic that there were no casualties as a result of the proactiveness of his outfit.
He said two other facilities, the buildings of the defunct Zenith and Prempeh Cinema Halls, located in the Central Business District of Takoradi, had also been identified as part of an exercise to demolish buildings that posed danger to the public. He added that NADMO would work assiduously to protect the lives and properties of Ghanaians.
Hajj Kamal, therefore, called for support and cooperation from the residents of Sekondi- Takoradi while undertaking efforts to protect lives and properties.
Mary Essandoh, an occupant of the building, said before the collapse, she sensed danger and relocated to a relative’s house, only for the building to cave in.
She commended NADMO for its timely intervention; otherwise, Sekondi would have been in a state of mourning.
An eyewitness suggested that building owners who deliberately refused to maintain their houses must be made to face the full rigours of the law.
Meanwhile, a source close to the Sekondi Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly told the Daily Graphic that an exercise would soon be mounted in the metropolis to identify facilities with weak structures for the necessary action.
"We should not wait for disaster to strike before finding remedies. The time is now"' the source added.
