On Ghana’s eastern coast, tidal waves and coastal erosion have flooded an entire fishing town. Because of previous tidal waves, several villagers have already been migrated, and they have petitioned the government for a permanent solution.
According to the authorities, the RC Primary School was destroyed in November by the greatest tidal wave ever to hit Ghana’s eastern coast.
They said, “It was the third time we are relocating our school before two sites were submerged entirely along with the fishing community.”
It doesn’t matter how many times the villagers move farther from the beach, flooding and coastal erosion it right back said, Fuvemeh Assistant Head Man Knowledge Dewornu.
However, in 1997, it did not destroy all the land. It destroys some part of it. And in 2016, it also destroyed some parts of it one more time, and in 2018, it destroyed all the land of Fuvemeh, so there is no other person you can see there now. So, these are the villages of Fuvemeh now, which is now destroyed by the sea.
The once-thriving fishing community of 2,500 people has shrunk to a few hundred residents who are fighting to stay afloat.
According to the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural) study, 37 percent of eastern land was lost by flooding and erosion between 2005 and 2017.
According to Emmanuel Gemeah, chief executive of the coastal town of Keta, climate change is to blame, as are human actions such as building dams and ports and extracting sand from beaches to sell for construction.
The Municipality Security Council, the Chairman, “held a meeting, and they came out with an order, which aims to ban the fetching of sand from the beaches until the next notice.”
In the meeting, villagers said that the ban was not enough.
The National Disaster Management Organisation’s deputy director, Seji Saji Amedonu, advocates for constructing a sea defence wall, as has been done in other parts of the coast.
According to Amedonu, protection is needed in the whole of Ghana, from Axim to Aflao. Because if we focus on one part only and leave the others, the devastation will continue. We’re simply hoping that sometime along the line, the government will find the money to do this and truly fix the problem.”
While coastal erosion affects much of West Africa, Ghanaian scientists say their country’s extensive coastline- about 550 Kilometres – makes it particularly vulnerable.
