Flooding and its effects on the quality of health of residents of Maamobi in the Ayawaso North Municipality of The Greater Accra Region Of Ghana

Abstract

The occurrences of floods in Accra have become an annual event with severe consequences mostly felt by the urban poor. The study assessed flooding and its overall effects on the quality of life of residents of Maamobi in the Ayawaso East Municipality of the Greater Accra region of Ghana. The study was a descriptive survey and the views of 150 respondents were sought through the administration of questionnaires. Primary and Secondary sources of data collection method were used and data collected from the field was processed and analysed through the use of Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS) version 16.0. Opinions were quite varied regarding the human-induced activities contributing to flooding as majority (42%) of the respondents believed it is poor urban development. It was revealed from the study that 68% of the respondents believed that they experienced flooding whenever there was a heavy rainfall within the Community and 54% often times experienced flooding between May and June of each year. Knowledge and perception of residents about flood are key in solving flooding-related activities within the community. However, the knowledge and perception of respondents on the condition of flood was quite mixed but a majority of 62% of the respondents believe shallow running water is a flood condition. It can therefore, be concluded that the knowledge and perception risk of residents of Maamobi with regards to flooding are quite high; making them to adapt strategies to mitigate flooding disaster. Government should mainstream flood risk management into wider development plan. This can afford local government not to ignore risks, particularly those related to flood, climate change, urbanization and environmental degradation.