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Georgetown, GINA, February 9, 2010

Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud who is currently attending a meeting in California, United States of America, to discuss how Geographical Information System (GIS) can be used as a tool to support the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) and Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) has managed to garner the approval for a $40M state-of-the-art GIS software from the Environmental Systems Research Institute ( ESRI) and the University of Redlands.

Several government and other stakeholder agencies are participating in a two-day workshop to prepare a draft disaster plan for government.

The Civil Defence Commission (CDC) is working to produce a draft plan on how to better tackle disaster situations and government may study the proposal for approval as early as Friday.

Yesterday, several key organizations listed as being critical players met at the Regency Suites in a two-day workshop to identify future actions in developing and implementing a National Damage Assessment and Needs Analysis (DANA).
CDC, the government’s disaster management agency is moving to design a readiness system that will allow emergency workers to report from troubled areas using their laptops and Blackberries.

Source: Stabroeknews

Guyana has pledged US$1 million in assistance to Haiti following the major earthquake that struck the Caribbean nation on Tuesday.

President Bharrat Jagdeo made the announcement in a statement yesterday and later met with political parties, religious organisations and non-governmental organizations to coordinate a national response to aid in recovery efforts. Minister of Human Services, Priya Manickchand has been named chair of the multi-stakeholder committee.

Georgetown, GINA, September 17, 2009
To evaluate the effectiveness of integrated technologies and to improve Guyana’s capacity to respond to natural disasters, the United States Southern Command (US SOUTHCOM) earlier today donated first aid emergency equipment to the Guyana Civil Defence Commission (CDC). The handing-over ceremony took place at CDC’s headquarters, Thomas Lands.

Director-General of CDC, Chabilall Ramsarup received the donation on behalf of the Government.
“We would like to thank the US SOUTHCOM for the presentation since it would go a far way in assisting us to respond promptly to natural disasters’.”
Lt. Col. Melba Hernandez, Military Liaison Officer , US Embassy handed-over the items to Ramsarup.

-CDC under-resourced
The severe flooding of coastal communities in Regions 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 and others situated alongside rivers has been met with “weak” coordination on the ground by the relevant stakeholders, an assessment conducted by Oxfam International has revealed.

It has also found that the Civil Defence Commission (CDC), which is responsible for coordinating emergency responses, has been hindered by limited resources.