NEVER AGAIN (JAN 19, 2010)

AN earthquake scare on Sunday that kept the entire country awake exposed the gullibility of many of the people.
The phone calls, text messages and discussions on radio at dawn yesterday showed clearly the lack of information on natural disasters such as earthquakes or earth tremors.
That all those frantic efforts to minimise the effects of disasters turned out to be phoney and caused irreparable inconvenience to the people should be a matter of concern to all and they should affirm that never again will they allow themselves to be misled.
For, this alarm could have triggered a tragedy or stampede of national proportions that the state would be unprepared to deal with to reduce the pain that would be inflicted on the people.
Nonetheless, the drill that the people went through in responding to the “distress calls” and waking up their neighbours or calming the nerves of agitated relatives demonstrates that Ghanaians are their neighbours’ keepers.
Another lesson from this experience is that those who wield the power of communication, be it the media, ‘gong gong’ and mobile phones, should use those facilities in a more responsible way.
A harmless text message, perhaps unintended but interpreted wrongly, might have caused the panic among majority of Ghanaians, forcing them to stay outside in unfriendly weather for most part of the night.
As people recover from the pain they went through on Sunday night, the emergency agencies should at least be happy that in the event of any disaster the people will know what to do.
On the other hand, it is feared that next time around many people will not respond to such calls, even if they are for real, and the effect can be catastrophic.
The Daily Graphic thinks there are many lessons to be learnt from the experiences of last Sunday night.
In the first place, the nation should be able to unravel the mystery surrounding those who send text messages for diabolical purposes.
The Daily Graphic is aware of efforts by the government to get all mobile telephony companies to register all subscribers to their services.
This exercise has not gone down well with all subscribers, necessitating further discussions on the matter with the companies and a rescheduling of the implementation date.
The Daily Graphic calls on the government to, as a matter of urgency, resource all disaster management organisations for them to deal with the concerns of society, so that when such disasters occur, those organisations will be better placed to carry out humanitarian relief operations.
The government should also consider the suggestion for the setting up of a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) seismic station in the country to support the management of information relating to earthquakes.
If we had a seismic station in the country, the stampede could have been avoided, as seismic information would have been placed at the disposal of the people.
We think it has become very important for disaster management organisations to step up public education on earth tremors and related disasters.
In fact, the way the public responded to news of the phoney earthquake indicated that majority of our people had very little information about earthquakes.
It is difficult, even with functional equipment, to predict when an earthquake will occur.
Developers should also be educated on the suitability and safety of lands when designing their houses.
The hysteria that characterised the events of last Sunday has not only exposed majority of the people to various kinds of dangers but also shows that information, if not handled responsibly, can create false alarm and spell doom for an entire nation.