He said early warning systems were imperative to forestall disasters and help reduce impacts on communities and said it was time they put the systems in action following reported cases of disasters across the country.

Mr Ramadan who gave the directive at this year's International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction celebration at Jasikan on the theme: "Reducing the economic loss of disasters"noted that the country would not have recorded certain disasters if early warning systems had been in place and fully implemented.

He said NADMO was working closely with the Meteorological Agency to disseminate accurate information on weather situations to guide the citizenry against disasters and advised people living at the coastal areas to strictly adhere to safety measures when crossing the river or going for fishing.

Mr Divine Bosson, Volta Regional Director, NADMO, said the economic loss of disasters posed a great challenge to the socio-economic development of the world.

He noted that in 2017, the UN's report on economic losses from all disasters including; earthquakes, tsunamis and flood was averagely 250 to 300 billion US dollars annually while the recent World Bank report estimated the Global Average Annual losses from disasters in the built environment at 314 billion US dollars, which could reach 415 billion US dollars by 2030.

Mr. Bosson said the 2017 figures from the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), revealed that 33 people perished, 293 sustained varying degrees of injury in fire disasters while property worth Ghc31.2m destroyed across the country.

He said it was therefore necessary to intensify community education and awareness programmes to sensitise people about the need to stop activities that could lead to disasters..

Mr. Lawrence Aziale, District Chief Executive (DCE, Jasikan, said the District had put disaster risks reduction mechanisms in place to reduce impacts of disasters.

He said the Assembly also had a scheme to award a community that would not record bush fires this year and next year.

"I also want to say that as much as we are ready to encourage and motivate people to ensure that we avoid disasters in our communities, we will not relent on the law. Anybody that will be found to be culpable of causing any disaster related activities in the District…, shall be dealt with, with the law, "Mr Aziale said.