Citation

Owusu-Sekyere E, Adjuik RY, Wedam E. Sage open 2017; 7(2): e2158244017699528.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/2158244017699528

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Although Ghana has developed institutional frameworks and has enacted legislation which among other things seek to guarantee the cooperation and coordination of key stakeholders in disaster prevention, compliance is still a mirage. This has resulted in increased susceptibility of national assets to preventable disasters. This article discusses what might have caused the inferno that razed down one of West Africa's largest medical storage facilities--the Central Medical Store (CMS). The disaster did not only manifest in property lost, basic medical supplies to neighboring countries were also severely interrupted. By exploring the responses of key stakeholders, the emerging evidence indicates that preventive measures that could have potentially averted the disaster or reduced its impact were not in place. The results further highlighted the apparent weak institutional arrangements toward disaster risk prevention, preparedness, and mitigation, viewed as cross-cutting themes in disaster management. The article argues that the scale of losses from this catastrophe epitomizes how the neglect for building risk reduction can consign an entire region to the mercy of disaster events.

Language: en