WITH the flooding officially declared a level two national disaster, and five regions now reaching level three state of emergency, the Civil Defence Commission (CDC), on Wednesday, activated the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC), which comprises multi-sectoral coordination between government, private sector and civil society.
The NEOC, which includes the multi-stakeholder National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC), became fully operational to ensure an enhanced, coordinated response to the flooding in order to prevent duplication, maximise resources and work collectively as one team.
The NEOC comprises representative from several key government ministries and agencies including the Ministries of Health, Local Government, Agriculture, Public Works, Foreign Affairs, Finance, Amerindian Affairs and Human Services and Social Security as well as from the Private Sector Commission, the Guyana Police Force, the Guyana Defence Force and the Guyana Red Cross Society.

The NEOC had partially been in operation since last month when the CDC initiated response efforts to flooding; however, the centre has now become fully operational following the elevation of the situation to a level two state of emergency, and the declaration of the flooding as a national disaster by President Irfaan Ali.
“NEOC is the main decision making body during disaster response. It is where all information and data will be shared, analysed, prioritised and decisions made. Where decisions can’t be made it would be further sent up to the Prime Minister, President or Cabinet,” CDC Director, Colonel, Kester Craig explained.
“We are hoping with this fully activated body we will be able to have an enhanced coordinated mechanism so that we can prevent any form of duplication, and maximise resources and work collectively as one team.”