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A rainstorm has destroyed 56 houses and displaced 113 people in Kyekyewere in the Ahafo Ano North municipality of the Ashanti Region.

The downpour ripped off the roofs of buildings including homes, schools and cocoa sheds.

The Director-General of the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO), Eric Nana Agyemang Prempeh, visited the Kyekyewere community to ascertain the level of destruction caused by the rainstorm.

The destruction to buildings was caused by wind storm, heavy rains and flooding, it was gathered.

Nana Agyemang Prempeh said it has become imperative for people to consider the risk factors in constructing houses in specific areas.

He said this will help avert the impact of natural disasters in settlements.

“People build and farm in river channels where they are not supposed to do so and that is why people are affected when the rains come,” he said.

NADMO has obtained excavators, water pumping machines, chainsaw and towing machines to ease the rescue operations in the event of any disaster.

Nana Agyemang Prempeh is hopeful the contingency and preventive measures put in place by NADMO will help reduce the occurrence of disasters.

He said NADMO is embarking on a national plan of action aimed at reducing disaster risks in the country.

“Under the plan, NADMO would monitor disaster risk, mount a national platform and coordinate activities to achieve a comprehensive goal of disaster risk reduction in a manner that would not affect activities in the communities,” he stressed.

Tepahene Nana Adusei Atwerewa Ampim commended the government for the supply of relief items to communities affected by the rainstorm.

NADMO has recorded 20 deaths from 2,685 natural disasters since the beginning of 2019.