THE Civil Defence Commission (CDC) has, successfully, conducted its annual disaster preparedness and response programme called ‘Exercise floodgate 2013’.

It was executed during the period October 30 to 31, according to a CDC press release.
International evaluator, Brigadier General (ret’d) Earl Arthurs, of the Caribbean Disaster and Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) Coordinating Unit, expressed his satisfaction with the planning and execution of Floodgate 2013, release said.
It added:“General Arthurs commended the Director General and Staff of the CDC for their commitment to building the nation’s disaster risk management capacity and resilience, while indicating the importance of Regional Democratic and Neighbourhood Democratic Councils in the DRM process.”
Exercise Floodgate was designed to test the state of readiness and capacities of the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) in Georgetown and the Regional Emergency Operations Centres (REOCs) in Regions 2 (Pomeroon/Supenaam), 3 (Essequibo Islands/West Demerara), 4 (Demerara/Mahaica), 5 (Mahaica/Berbice) and 6(East Berbice/Corentyne) during emergencies/disasters.
“Various hazard impact scenarios were issued to the different regions involved in the exercise and they were required to take appropriate actions in response to the messages received.
The exercise also allowed the CDC, the various regions, and stakeholders, members of the Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Platform involved, to test their message handling and communication capacities, while at the same time, allowing for the testing of relevant policies, procedures, and protocols,” the release explained.
It also stated that Exercise Floodgate 2013 was the first time all of the coastal regions were tested at once and, as well, temporary emergency shelters were established in them during any such annual operation.