The uses of Land in our community

Terminologies used in development of a place

• Layout: This is the arrangement of a site for settlement. A community with good layout are well planned, free movement, prevents some natural disasters such as floods do not occur at such places, easy for fire fighters to do their work during fire outbreaks, beautifies the community etc. Such communities have good roads for easy movement, gutters to prevent flood, buildings at the right places etc.

• Settlement: It is a place where people have built their homes. Developing countries have both rural and urban settlements. Ghana has a lot of rural settlements due to its standard of living. Urban settlement is well planned and developed. Most people in the rural areas migrate to the urban areas for several reasons such as jobs, schools etc.

• Slum: This is an overcrowded and dirty area. The buildings are not arranged but rather scattered. These areas are not well-planned, they have poor sewage system, diseases spread easily etc.

• Natural disaster: This is a natural misfortune such as flood, earthquake, strong winds, severe drought, volcanic eruption, outbreak of diseases etc.

Ghana experienced a severe flood on June 3, 2015 at the Kwame Nkrumah circle. This flood led to a serious gas explosion which took the lives of over seventy (70) people.