CDC updates Caribbean partner donor groups on flood situation

Director General of the Civil Defence Commission, Lieutenant Colonel Kester Craig today updated the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) and the United Nations Resident Coordinators’ Offices in the Caribbean on Guyana’s Flood Situation, during a Caribbean Partner Donor Group meeting held virtually.

The Director General informed the regional partners that the situation within the country has been classified as a Level 2 event, which means that the national capacity to respond is not overwhelmed but some external assistance is required and being sought through CDEMA’s Regional Response Mechanism (RRM) to augment efforts in a bid to effectively protect lives, livelihoods, and the environment within these localities and the country at large.

The Regional Partners were told that homes are almost completely inundated, livestock and domestic animals in distress and farmlands inundated resulting in crop damages, with regions 2, 5, 6, 7 and 10 surpassing their regional capacity.

To date, 28, 427 households have been affected with the CDC having to evacuate 149 persons to six shelters, and there are plans to establish another three shelters.

Executive Director (ag) of CDEMA, Elizabeth Riley expressed solidarity with the people of Guyana and indicated that the details of the situation will be shared with other regional partners to allow them the chance to respond where necessary.

The Director General also informed the regional partners that rainfall in May, 2021 was 607.7mm, the second highest since 1981 with the latest outlook suggesting that wetter than usual or above normal rainfall can be expected throughout August.

Lt. Col. Craig said flooding is a concern at least for the period June to mid-July, in areas that are already under water and mudslides being a concern over hilly areas.

He also noted the great demand for transportation and equipment pointing out that among those needs are food, cleaning supplies, cots, boat engines, aluminum and inflatable boats, aerial transportation and diesel driven hydro flow mobile pumps.

The need for a more detailed assessment of the flood, post disaster assessment and a socio-economic impact assessment was also discussed with the regional partners.

Executive Director of the Caribbean Public Health Agency Dr. Joy St. John and UN Resident Coordinator, Mikiko Tanaka was among those attending the meeting.