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By Sharmain CornetteIn the quest to put in place a National Flood Preparedness and Response Plan, the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) yesterday commenced an intense and interactive session with several stakeholder organisations at the Regency Hotel, Hadfield Street,O.J. Simpson College Jersey, Georgetown.From left: Lieutenant Colonel Francis Abraham, Colonel Chabilall Ramsarup, Disaster Preparedness Consultant Keith Ford and UNDP Specialist Anvar SabsalievThe venture,Rey Maualuga College Jersey, according to Deputy Director General of the CDC, Lieutenant Colonel Francis Abraham, comes as part of Government’s collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to build both national and local capacity in disaster risk reduction and response. And since the CDC has been bestowed with the mandate to manage emergencies and disasters in Guyana, the preparedness project will be undertaken under its auspices with funding from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).Lieutenant Colonel Abraham revealed that the project is intended to upgrade the Commission’s management systems and to strengthen its response mechanisms. As such one of the outputs is a National Flood Preparedness and Response Plan. He said the two-day forum is geared at discussing a draft of the plan, following which efforts will be engaged to forge the plan into a workable document capable of addressing the peculiar conditions and needs of Guyana.“We at the Civil Defence Commission are of the view that the greatest national hazard that Guyana faces is one of flooding. Consequently, we consider this workshop to be extremely important as it brings together key stakeholders in disaster preparedness and response in general, and more particularly,JuJu Smith-Schuster USC Jersey, in the mitigation management response, recovery and rehabilitation from sudden events.”The main purpose of the plan,Taylor Mays USC Jersey, Colonel Abraham revealed, is to provide the CDC with a strategic guidance framework to prepare for and respond to floods in order to reduce the damage impact associated with these events. He noted also that there is need to establish a centralised command and coordination structure.Yesterday’s discussions were premised on four main objectives, namely: to introduce the concept behind the preparation of the first draft of the flood preparedness and response plan; to arrive at consensus on roles and responsibilities of the key stakeholders in flood preparedness and response; to arrive at consensus on the key procedures and actions to be taken to prepare for and respond to floods and to agree on the way forward for finalisation and implementation of the national flood preparedness plan.Colonel Abraham said that the objectives will be attainable if the participants contribute fully to the discussion and are armed with the mandate to make decisions on behalf of the organisations they represent. Reiterating the importance of the workshop,Adoree Jackson USC Jersey, he emphasised that the results of the discussions and the decision made will translate into the formulation of a document that will inform the action of all stakeholders in the event of a flood.“What we put in over the next few days is what will remain with us as a plan for quite a number of years to come,” said Director General of CDC, Colonel Chabilall Ramsarup.And though it may seem ironic that preparations are being made for a flood in the midst of a drought, Colonel Ramsurup asserted that it is an opportune time to prepare for Guyana’s worst possible natural disaster. He recounted that the CDC was established in 1982. But it was not until three years later that a draft preparedness plan was created. However it was never promulgated, thus very little was done to operationalise it.“It was not until the great floods of 2005, which still lingers in our minds, that the nation was awakened. Even after the aftermath of the flood it was posited that this happens once in a million years. But lo and behold we had it in the next year and all the other years after that and in some years twice.” As such it has been deduced that flooding is a real situation that Guyana is facing.According to Colonel Ramsarup, when the effects of global warming and climate change are analysed, it has been recognised that Guyana will not be spared. And flooding, he observed, “is hitting our economy very hard and causing undue hardship to our people.” He stressed the need to derive a suitable and practical plan in a collective way which could be workable in the local scenario.The plan, once developed, should be constantly reviewed, updated and tested so that it could be systematically improved over time,Matt Leinart College Jersey, according to Disaster Risk Management Specialist attached to the UNDP, Anvar Sabsaliev. Since last July he has been assigned to the CDC and has proven to be a crucial factor in helping to streamline plans to develop the preparedness plan.Among the participating agencies at yesterday’s forum were the Ministries of Health, Public Works and Agriculture,Marcus Allen College Jersey, Lands and Surveys, Guyana Water Incorporated, and the Guyana Relief Council.