CDC commissions emergency centre in Corentyne

The Civil Defence Commission (CDC) has commissioned the Fort Ordnance Primary School, on the Corentyne, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) as an emergency shelter location, in its continued efforts to promote disaster and climate change awareness and preparedness in Guyana.
This was done under the “Enhancement of Emergency Shelter Capacity to Mitigate Flood Risk in Ordnance Fortland” project funded through the Canada Caribbean Disaster Risk Management Fund.
At the commissioning ceremony on Friday, Deputy Director General, Major Kester Craig, explained that the location was specifically selected following a hazard and vulnerability assessment done the CDC in 2015; the results of which indicated that the region was highly susceptible to flooding.
According to Craig, the CDC recognised that there is no designated facility in the region to effectively serve as an emergency shelter, should persons be displaced. “The norm in Guyana over the years has been to utilise schools for temporary shelter but the design of most schools does not cater for the basic amenities a shelter requires… The vision of having a designated facility for emergency sheltering was then manifested into the development of a concept,” he said.
The shelter is the second of its kind in Guyana and the first at the regional level. With the accommodation capacity of 160 persons, the centre is equipped with a concrete bridge to facilitate delivery of relief supplies directly to the building. The school also boasts bath facilities and other necessities, and is designed to improve accessibility for persons with disabilities.
According to media reports, the region with support from the CDC has corps of volunteers who are being trained in disaster preparedness to enable them to render services in the event of a disaster.
Also present at the commissioning was High Commissioner of Canada to Guyana, Lilian Chatterjee, who expressed satisfaction at seeing the collaboration between the two countries materialise which sets a good example to the wider community in engaging in such projects to strengthen the readiness to respond to natural disasters and climate change.
CDC promotes Comprehensive Disaster Management in Guyana through volunteerism and had opened an emergency centre shelter in Region Nine, (Upper Takatu-Upper Essequibo) in 2012.
The organisation is at present conducting hazard, risk and vulnerability assessments across Guyana to detect high-risk areas and identify appropriate structures which can be altered into emergency shelters.