Latest update March 28th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jun 09, 2011 News
The government yesterday committed to long-term relief for Region Nine residents, especially those in Amerindian villages who have seen some of their homes washed away and their means of making a living drowned by continuing rainfall of the magnitude last seen in the 1980s.
“The expectation from the forecast is that the relief efforts will be continuing indefinitely,” said Dr Roger Luncheon, Head of the Presidential Secretariat.
“The most recent of reports has established that flood waters have not receded to any significant degree, but it has not kept on rising.
“The situation is a bit different in some of the villages where floodwaters have been reported as continuing to rise,” Dr Luncheon added.
Speaking at a press conference at the Presidential Secretariat yesterday, he named the most affected communities as Gunn Strip, Sand Creek and Karasabai.
“The expectation is we’re in for the long haul, which means the administration…is prepared to provide (an) extended period of relief to the communities that have been affected,” Luncheon declared.
Prolonged rainfall (the Guyana Red Cross has been monitoring flood waters in Lethem for the past three weeks) has caused some families to evacuate their homes and abandon farmlands. They are now living in shelters, with Government providing sustenance. The government has set aside $50 million in the interim.
Prime Minister Samuel Hinds is the most senior government official to visit the flooded areas and deemed the situation dire, noting that flood waters had affected farms, homes, businesses, and threatened the utility services and telecommunications services at the weekend.
According to Dr Luncheon, following the Prime Minister’s visit, a regional response mechanism was put in place.
The flooding has made the road transportation system impossible, with some sections of the roads “under many feet of water.” As a result, this has cut off villages in the north, south and south central Rupununi.
Dr Luncheon could not say immediately exactly how many communities and families are affected.
He said that the relief efforts at the moment are focused on using the military Y-12 aircraft to take food supplies into the affected areas. The food supplies are delivered to the main staging areas, namely Annai and Lethem, and then air-ferried to affected villages.
He said that communication with the communities have been through radio systems set up by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Local Government. The communities provide updates on their situation, Luncheon said, and relief is channeled accordingly.
“The forecast is that the situation would not relent overnight and particularly attention is being paid to amount of water accumulation on land,” Dr Luncheon stated.
To the extent that flooding has destroyed/removed road transportation, Dr Luncheon said that air flights and riverain transportation would be the main ways of getting around and implementing disaster responses in that region.
“So we’re looking at sustaining relief by once the road transport system remains significantly impaired.”
Regarding long-term relief, Dr Luncheon said that with the economic basis for the livelihoods of the people destroyed, there will be a time when the relief efforts will be stepped up to revitalisating the economic activities in the villages.
THIS IDIOT TELLING GUYANA WE HAVE NO SAY IN THE 50% PROFIT SHARING AGREEMENT WE HAVE WITH EXXON.
Mar 28, 2024
Minister Ramson challenge athletes to better last year’s performance By Rawle Toney Kaieteur Sports – Guyana’s 23-member contingent for the CARIFTA Games in Grenada is set to depart the...B.V. Police Station Kaieteur News – The Beterverwagting Police Station, East Coast Demerara (ECD) will be reconstructed... more
By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News – In the face of escalating global environmental challenges, water scarcity and... more
Freedom of speech is our core value at Kaieteur News. If the letter/e-mail you sent was not published, and you believe that its contents were not libellous, let us know, please contact us by phone or email.
Feel free to send us your comments and/or criticisms.
Contact: 624-6456; 225-8452; 225-8458; 225-8463; 225-8465; 225-8473 or 225-8491.
Or by Email: [email protected] / [email protected]