–school to be used as emergency shelter

The Government of Canada is providing Cdn$99,023(G$15,088,500) to the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) to retrofit and equip the Fort Ordnance Primary School in East Berbice, so it can be used as an emergency shelter for flood affected residents.

This announcement was made on Tuesday when CDC Director General, Colonel Chabilal Ramsarup (Retd) and High Commissioner of Canada, Pierre Giroux, visited the Fort Ordnance Primary School to launch the Canada-funded project termed “Enhancement of Emergency Shelter Capacity to Mitigate Flood Risk in Ordnance Fortlands”.

Fort Ordnance, in Region Six, is home to over seven hundred persons, and is frequently impacted by excessive flooding from rainfall and high tide. Most persons within the community are self-employed, and thus suffer significant losses in goods they may have stored in their homes during the period of flooding. Employees within the community are restricted from coming out of their homes to attend work during flooding.

Children are particularly affected, because the school compounds are flooded, preventing access into the schools.

With support from the Canada Caribbean Disaster Risk Management Fund, the Fort Ordnance Primary School compound will be raised; the current sanitary block will be expanded to include additional toilets and baths; additional gutters and drains will be installed; the walkway will be expanded to accommodate vehicles, and the bridge leading to the school will be reinforced.

Equipment, including a refrigerator, microwaves, stoves, sinks and counters, will be installed at the school, to be utilised for feeding purposes when the shelter is activated.

The project would also support the development of a protocol for the activation and management of the shelter, and the training of a shelter management committee.

This is a good example of a community, with support from the CDC, coming together to strengthen its readiness to respond to natural disasters and climate change.

The Canada Caribbean Disaster Risk Management Fund is part of Canada’s Cdn$600 million Caribbean Regional Programme. The Fund is designed to support non-governmental organisations, community groups, and government agencies within Caricom in carrying out small-scale community projects to reduce the risks from the many natural hazards affecting the region — such as floods, droughts, storms, and hurricanes.

In addition to the CDC, the Government of Canada, through the Canada Caribbean Disaster Risk Management Fund, is supporting the Wowetta Women’s Group and the Kanuku Mountains Community Representative Group to increase the resilience of North and Central Rupununi against droughts. This has been done particularly through the establishment of two modern cassava processing and farine storage facilities.