- July 15, 2012
- Posted by: cdc
- Category: News
Director General of the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) Colonel (retired) Chabilall Ramsarup, this afternoon; at a de-briefing exercise for participants of ‘Exercise Flood Gate 2012’ said that the national exercise was a major success as it achieved the objectives of testing the national and regional disaster mechanism.
Colonel Ramsarup also thanked Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) for their support prior and during the exercise, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for their continuous support, along with the other agencies and stakeholders who participated in the event to make it a success. Special praises were in order for Major Kester Craig, Operations/Training Officer and Captain Sean Welcome for their effective planning of the event which lead to it being a success,
“We have done a lot of planning, not only at CDC but a lot of agencies did their own disaster preparedness plans, whilst others are in the process of doing theirs,” Ramsarup said.
Ramsarup added that the new year may see a number of persons and better response from national stakeholder partners for disasters, and urged participants of the exercise to return to their agencies and share the knowledge that was garnered so that the agency can have a well -established plan with trained personnel to respond in the event of a disaster.
“The idea is to make the organisation a better place so we can all work together to improve disaster management…disaster is here to stay, we have to thank God that we are somewhat safe,” Ramsarup said.
He added that during the exercise both the Regional and National Emergency Operations Centres (NEOC) utilized the technology that was available to them, to achieve specific objectives, however, persons did not consult with the existing plans to confirm whether or not what was being done was correct.
“The idea behind looking at the existing plans was to ensure that plans are updated…the gaps that would have been seen, would be filled…you should therefore make it your duty to ensure that gaps identified are plugged so that the exercise can truly be a success,” Ramsarup explained.
The CDC head also said that for the two-day exercise, the need for inter-agency collaboration at the national and regional levels was highlighted, as no single agency is responsible for disaster.
Deputy Director General and NEOC Director, Lt. Col Abraham said that the exercise which tested; the region’s capabilities of managing their own resources during a disaster, the national response to a disaster, and the mechanism in place in the event Guyana could not have dealt with the disaster and needed to seek outside assistance, was successful because of participation of stakeholders along with the level of planning that was put into it.
Brigadier General (retired) Earl Arthurs, Preparedness and Contingency Planning Specialist for CDEMA in delivering an assessment of the exercise said that he was quite impressed.
“This exercise was a successful exercise because it achieved its objectives…I first pay tribute to the planners, organisers and those who had the vision and put it to work… I think that the technology used and the style to put out information was professional…with more practice it will get better,” Arthurs said.
He explained that one of the most important things in such an exercise is to look for gaps, to correlate existing plans, test equipment and, these were all achievements of the exercise.
“At the NEOC level there was very good participation and use of technology even during briefings…at the REOC level there was also good participation, even with the use of low-tech, efficiency was there to execute duties, which is very good…at the shelter I was impressed- they adjusted and put everything into it…they were full of enthusiasm and were briefing us,” Arthurs said.
Whilst in his overall assessment Arthurs declared that the exercise was a very good job done, he recommended that annual exercises, involving more participants, and all regions, be done.
Programme Manager, CDEMA, Gayle Drakes said that she was pleased with the exercise and the participation it attracted. Further, compared to other such exercises conducted by the four Caribbean territories she participated in, Guyana’s exercise was much more successful which was as a result of the high quality of planning put into the exercise.
Operations/Training Officer, Major Craig thanked the CDC staff who worked day and night to ensure the exercise was successful, the planner Capt. Sean Welcome for putting it together along with the participants for making the exercise a success.
“The actual exercise starts from the planning phase…six weeks was given to plan and execute…this was demanding and called for hard work by all present including CDC volunteers,” Major Craig said.
He explained that the rolling out of training materials was important as most information utilised was rolled out for the first time.
“During the exercise we were able to test equipment, trucks, actual deployment of resources which was very key to us,” Major Craig said.
He added that CDEMA, after looking at the situation reports used by Guyana recommended the format to be used by other institutions.
Representatives from the Ministry of Health said that it was a good experience to participate in such an exercise, which lead to the fostering of greater cooperation between the Ministry and the Pan American Health Organisation.
Representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture mentioned that there are always lots of benefits in conducting an operation as this, as various plans exist.
Additionally, whilst the need to strengthen linkages at the regional level was realised, it was very important to bring together ideas and work together to ensure the common objective was accomplished, rather than thinking about a specific institution but looking at the country as a whole.
Environmental Protection Agency representatives said that the exercise highlighted what they already knew within an emergency, as any emergency impacts the environment. Further, the exercise presented the opportunity for collaborative efforts, as it was realised that for an effective and efficient response to a disaster, collaboration is needed.