Householders damage pegged at $55B -ECLAC Guyana flood report
By Stabroek News
Tue, 29 Mar 2005, 09:49
Georgetown, Guyana, Friday March 25, 2005 (Stabroek News) - The month-long flooding on the East Coast and other parts of the country during January and February took a heavy toll on householders with damage pegged at $55.1B.
This is according to the assessment that the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) completed on the flood's effect on the economy which put the total damage at $93B.
Included in the householders' losses are $33B for damage to housing and $20.9B for furniture and equipment.
The cost to householders raises the question of whether there would be any state relief to occupants for damage. The government has announced a $10,000 clean-up grant to 70,000 households - amounting to $700M - though the damage sustained is put at a whopping $55.1B.
The disaster affected 37% of the population or 275,000 persons and took a 59% bite out of Guyana's gross domestic product (GDP).
The long-awaited report was finally made public yesterday in power-point form after the Head of the Carib-bean Division of ECLAC, Neil Pierre, handed over the final copy to Minister of Foreign Affairs Rudy Insanally at the Foreign Service Institute (FSI). The report is available online at http://www.gina.gov.gy/eclac.pdf.
ECLAC said Region Four had 71% of its population severely affected while in Region Three, the percentage was 41 and in Region Five, 20. Of the 309,059 residents of Region Four, the flooding affected 222,522 of them, or 72%.
The report found that the disaster was concentrated in the most heavily populated regions. The disaster claimed 34 lives - seven by drowning and 27 to illnesses arising from the floods.
The evaluation was done with the first stage being the emergency phase, followed by rehabilitation and recovery and then reconstruction.
Listing the main traits of the disaster, ECLAC said the floods primarily affected Regions Three, Four and Five, with Region Four being the worst hit.
It said while the rains were the heaviest on record since 1888, a combination of the extended heavy rainfall, malfunctioning drainage structures and high tides contributed to the accumulation of between three and five feet of water in some areas.
Inhabitants of the coastal region were isolated, suffered loss of personal assets and were placed at risk for water-borne diseases.
Social and Productive Sectors
The report said damage to the social sector accounts for 35% of the GDP. The damage to the housing sector accounts for 44% of the national housing stock or 70,000 dwellings. This is the number of households that the government has earmarked for assistance packages of $10,000 each.
ECLAC gives the total damage to the education and culture sectors as $371.7M and to the health sector as $173.4M. Schools suffered losses totalling $303M while health centres sustained damage of $27.5M and increased spending on drugs and medicines totalled $73.1M.
The report said there was need for the promotion of greater awareness of risk of flooding and water-borne diseases particularly for children. The report also pointed to the need for a safety net and social-protection programmes targeted to the poor in response to disasters and the creation of buffer stock finance mechanisms.
Damage to the sugar industry was $2.3 billion, while rice suffered losses reaching $1.6 billion, the report said. Other crops registered damage estimated at $6 billion while for livestock it was $607M. Total damage in the agriculture sector amounted to $11 billion and this also included $142M for farm roads, $49M for the National Agricultural Re-search Institute and $22M for the Guyana School of Agriculture.
ECLAC said creative forms of assistance are needed to restore micro and small businesses since many of them have lost assets and working capital. And many such establishments were not insured, the report said, adding that insurance claims are estimated at $250M.
The ECLAC report stated that commerce suffered a $14.5 billion loss and manufacturing $961M. Tourism sustained $1.1 billion in losses. Impact on:
Infrastructure
The report found that the total impact is $9.1 billion and this is concentrated in water supply, sewerage, roads and transport sectors. Water supply and sewerage suffered damage amounting to $3.9 billion while damage to road and transport came up to $3.5 billion.
"These figures mask the potential catastrophe that could have occurred had the East Demerara Water Conser-vancy dam been breached," the report said. ECLAC said too that to reduce the vulnerability of the coastal population, expenditure of US$200 to $300M was required.
Improvement in the treatment and conveyance of sewage is badly needed and the modification of road construction methods is required to ensure longevity of the main and village roads of the country, the report found.
Making its recommendations, ECLAC said disaster management systems and plans were required for all types of emergencies and called for the strengthening of solid waste management.
ECLAC said too that there was increased recognition of the need for maintenance of drainage and irrigation infrastructure.
Hindrances
ECLAC found limited access to finance and extension services and the absence of innovative financing mechanisms. The team identified as hindrances to the productive sectors the high costs and limited availability of inputs and the absence of income-generating programmes.
The assessment team said a significant segment of the population was below the poverty line and there were high levels of vulnerability of women and children and weak social cohesion.
For the social sector the team found a lack of maintenance, lack of investment in infrastructure upgrading and limited institutional capacity.
As regards the macro-economic scenario, ECLAC identified high external debt and recommended that growth and employment be restored while maintaining the basic macro-economic equilibrium. The report noted the fact that HIPC does not contemplate external shocks.
The findings of the ECLAC assessment will guide government's actions for the recovery phase in the short, medium and long terms.
Source: http://www.stabroeknews.com/index.pl/article?id=14764320