— regions gear up to minimise flooding during rainy season

THE Civil Defence Commission (CDC), through implementation of several measures, is expecting regional leaders to be ever alert to minimise flooding during the current May-June rainy season.
CDC Director-General (ag), Lieutenant Colonel Kester Craig told the Guyana Chronicle that all ten administrative regions, apart from Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), have had Disaster Risk Management (DRM) Plans and Regional Disaster Risk Management Committees set up.

The assessment process for Region Four has begun, and its plan is almost complete, even as the CDC remains on call for any emergency situation.
For years, Guyana’s coastal, riverine and hinterland areas have been plagued with flooding due to several factors such as heavy rainfall, drainage issues and limited sea defence systems, among others.

The year 2005 saw one of the worst effects of flooding in Guyana, where thousands were affected physically and financially.

While the Government has sought, from all angles, to prevent such a disaster from ever reoccurring, the CDC tackles the issue from the perspective of training in preventative measures and disaster relief.

“There’s a system now, whereby if something happens (regional leaders) can activate it; meaning that they’ll be able to bring resources from all the departments within the region, in that all the different programme heads will come together as a whole to respond to any hazard, including floods,” Craig stated.

Just last year, he noted, officials of Regions Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam) and Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) were trained and equipped with assessment tools.
Craig stated that this is necessary to teach leaders in the region how to conduct, quantify and use information to assess and respond to hazards.

“Previously, they were just operating haphazardly; there wasn’t any plan. Now they have a plan that they can use to control resources; they’re now trained and equipped to respond; to do assessments and to work together as a team,” he explained, adding:
“The mechanism is so designed that if the region cannot cope with it, the CDC now will have ultimate control to coordinate and manage the response for that particular region that is affected. That would entail gathering external resources for the region.”

DONE BEFORE
Craig stated that in some of the regions, like Regions Two and Three, flooding episodes have already had practice in utilising the DRM plan, and coordinating efficient responses through their committees.

Within in regions’ plan, he said, there is a multi-agency plan which allows all required agencies to come together to respond as a team to a specific situation.
“It’s not like before, where people just respond (such as) health goes and does what it wants to do; agriculture goes and does what it wants to do. It is coordinated by the regional chairman, and supported by the regional executive officers and all the programme heads in that region,” he said.

Knowing the past challenges of the capital city and flooding, Craig stated that even before the rainy season, the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) had been tasked with the clearing of main drains in Georgetown.

Back in April 2019, the NDIA announced that mechanical cleaning operations totalling $71,934,120, and manual cleaning operations totalling $91,652,572 would go towards this cause.

“In 2019, NDIA will be responsible for 93,421 meters of main drainage canals in Georgetown, including the Downer/Liliendaal Pump Station Drain, South Road, Ruimveldt North & South, among others. An allocation of G$274M will be spent on Georgetown drainage for 2019,” Agriculture Minister Noel Holder has stated, speaking to the future risk of flooding.

Meanwhile, Craig added that even in the case that this does not prove to be sufficient to manage possible severe flooding, the necessary mechanisms and training invested in the regions would prove to be beneficial.
“They understand the system; they’ve activated it before, and they will be able to activate and respond, with the support from CDC,” he said.