CIVIL Defence Commission (CDC), Director General (retired), Colonel Chabilall Ramsarup, has stressed the importance of private-public partnerships in tackling natural disasters, both in the areas of recovery and preparedness.

He made the point on Wednesday while speaking at a Disaster Management Workshop held at Guyana Marriott Hotel, Kingston, Georgetown.

“In disaster management, we have to build partnerships or we will not get through it,” Ramsarup told participants, who also received a presentation on “Natural Hazard Vulnerability in Guyana”.

That presentation was delivered by University of the Virgin Islands retired Professor, Roy Watlington, who is also a member of the Caribbean Integrated Coastal Ocean Observing Systems.

Following Watlington’s presentation, there was a special presentation from Chief of the Private Sector Engagement Branch of the US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), Paul Murray.

Earlier, there were remarks from Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA) Vice-President, Shyam Nokta; Caribbean, Central America Action Executive Director, Sally Yearwood; and Tropical Shipping Assistant Vice-President, Mark Lopez.

The one-day workshop was facilitated by Tropical Shipping, which has been promoting effective disaster management and assisting with disaster recovery across the Caribbean for over two decades.

The Caribbean region has a long a history of natural disasters associated with hazards such as hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides and droughts.

Of the list, Guyana is only particularly at risk to floods and droughts. The low coastal plain is more at risk to flooding, while areas like Lethem are more vulnerable to droughts.

The workshop also looked at the technological natural disaster of cybercrimes.
These risks were extensively addressed by Ramsarup and Watlington in their presentations.

Ramsarup also emphasised that important in preparing for natural disasters is understanding the threat.
“Comprehensive disaster management involves risk reduction management. [However] we first of all have to make an assessment of what are our vulnerabilities. We have to know what and where our vulnerabilities lie and with that information we can work towards disaster risk reduction,” Ramsarup said.