Berbice : Director General of the Civil Defence Commission, Colonel Chabilal Ramsarup (Ret’ d) and High Commissioner of Canada, Mr. Pierre Giroux, visited the Fort Ordnance Primary School on Tuesday afternoon to launch the Canadian funded project “Enhancement of Emergency Shelter Capacity to Mitigate Flood Risk in Ordnance Fortland”.
The Government of Canada is providing the Civil Defence Commission, the National Disaster Organization of Guyana, CAD $99,023(G$15,088,500) to retrofit and equip the Fort Ordnance Primary School to be used as an emergency shelter for flood affected residents.
Fort Ordnance, Berbice is home to over seven hundred persons and is frequently impacted by excessive flooding from rainfall and high tides. Most men and women within the community are self-employed and suffer significant losses in goods they may have stored in their homes during the period of flooding; while others are restricted from coming out of their homes to attend work. Children particularly are affected because the school compounds are flooded preventing access into the school.
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 will 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 coming together with support from the Civil Defence Commission to strengthen their readiness to respond to natural disasters and climate change.
The Canada Caribbean Disaster Risk Management Fund is part of Canada’s CAD$600 million Caribbean Regional Programme. The Fund is designed to supportnon-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 Civil Defence Commission, the Government of Canada, through the Canada Caribbean Disaster Risk Management Fund, is also currently supporting the Wowetta Women’s Group and the Kanuku Mountains Community Representative Group to increase the resilience of North and Central Rupununi against droughts – particularly through the establishment of two modern cassava processing and farine storage facilities.
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