Urban flooding is a significant issue in Ghana, particularly in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA). Government agencies and municipalities seek to minimize damage from natural disasters, also for their public assets, through a variety of prevention measures. Nevertheless, a residual risk will always remain. Risk transfer within an Integrated Disaster Risk Management (IDRM) is central. For the development of an insurance product for public infrastructure assets various information about them, such as their value as well as their precise locations and previous flood occurrences for the

Cities experience serious incidents that prevent them from continuing their normal functioning. Such incidences can range from flood or fire to severe outbreaks of epidemics. During such emergencies, the affected cities are saddled with increased risks, mainly when the disaster management team is not well prepared to anticipate, cope with, respond to, and help in the recovery of the affected communities. City authorities have a constitutional responsibility to recover from such incidents in the minimum amount of time, with minimum disruption and at minimum cost. The ability of Metropolitan

Loss and damage from natural disasters have increased substantially over the last couple of decades. In 2020, for example, 980 natural disasters struck the world, causing significant economic loss, destroying major infrastructure, and claiming human lives.1 A single natural disaster can have enormous financial impacts. Some of these damages and losses can be reduced and transferred if appropriate policies and actions are applied. For this reason, Climate and Disaster Risk Management (DRM) has gained importance on international agendas and in many organisations. The main idea behind DRM is to

A risk profile of a public asset is an evaluation of the probability of the asset getting damaged depending on its exposure and vulnerability to a hazard. This determines potential risk reduction measures and the estimation of funds needed to protect the public asset, as a way of mitigating potential risks and threats. In addition, if there should be any residual risk after taking the necessary adaptation measures, these risks can then be transferred to third parties such as insurance companies. It is in public authority’s best interest to be proactive when it comes to risk profiling its

The Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA) suffers from rainrelated floods almost every year. This development is likely the result of several factors, including a rapid expansion of sealed-off surface, unplanned urbanization, weak infrastructure, inefficient waste collection and disposal system, as well as a changing climate with more intense rainfall events compared with earlier decades. GAMA is the economic hub of Ghana and is made of 29 metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies with an estimated 5.1 million inhabitants – making it the seventh-largest metropolitan area in Africa1

Rapid urban expansion in Ghana is impacting the environmental liveability and sustainability of the region. Measures to protect urban residents from emergencies and natural disasters are not keeping pace with this growth. Environmental risks such as floods and extreme heat have the potential to affect citizens’ livelihoods and health, damage infrastructure, and disrupt critical services. To respond to these risks, public authorities and other stakeholders must be better trained in risk management within an urban environment context. Urban resilience training and disaster risk management (DRM)

Ghana’s capital Accra is a significant business hub and has a high natural vulnerability to flooding. A combination of unplanned spatial developments, high percentage of paved areas, lack of proper solid waste management, and lack of maintenance for the drainage system result in frequent flooding during (but sometimes even outside) the rainy season. It is expected that climate change further aggravates this. Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA) face significant challenges to finance reconstruction work after floods. The negative

The ferocious impact of flooding on livelihoods and property demands efficient and ecofriendly adaptation measures. The Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA), Ghana loses a huge amount of resources to flooding every year. Although various interventions and measures have been put in place to ensure that flood risk in GAMA is properly managed, some Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in GAMA face significant challenges to finance reconstruction work after floods. Chronic cash constraints mean that reconstruction of non-critical infrastructure is often delayed or not

Cities in Ghana, like anywhere else in sub-Saharan Africa, have grown substantially over the past decades. Rapid urbanization has outpaced the capacity of the authorities to plan and sustainably manage cities. Consequently, urban planning lags urban growth. Overall, the sprawling of towns has increased poverty and income inequality and has resulted in the growth of informal settlements and increased disasters. In Accra, flooding, fires, diarrheal disease have become perennial events. In recent years, there has been a high incidence of disasters occurring every year, leaving negative impacts on

The Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA), Ghana experiences perennial rain events on an almost annual basis. This heavy rainfall causes significant economic and physical losses to the Accra region. For instance, approximately 40% of all assets managed by Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) have reported flooding in previous years, while 40 AMA-managed assets are located in major flood zones. Estimates point to roughly ninety million Ghanaian Cedi (GHS) of material damages for these premises. Developing an appropriate insurance product is thus vital in coping with these flood risk damages. It