Financial support crucial for Haiti at this time - Corbin

Financial support crucial for Haiti at this time – Corbin

Jan 15, 2010 News

Although US$1M is but a drop in the ocean to what is needed to help Haiti, Opposition Leader Robert Corbin is of the belief that Guyana’s gesture is tremendous given the status of its resources. Corbin is optimistic, though, that the amount being offered by Guyana will quadruple, through voluntary contributions of cash and kind.
“We have a responsibility to mobilise whatever resources we can to see what assistance we can give. When I perused the internet it was the first time that I was emotionally affected by a national tragedy…It is horrendous. People are still trapped, some are missing and buildings are still collapsing. It is a very sad situation,” Corbin told a gathering of media operatives.
At a meeting yesterday morning of a local Coordinating Committee to address the Haiti dilemma, Corbin said that discussions were had about the means through which resources could be collected. He noted that emphasis has been placed on financial resources as a start, while measures will be put in place for the acceptance of pledges for material support.
“Even if you have material support now, you will be faced with all kinds of logistical difficulties, such as having things spoil even before they reach the destination.”
As a result, the Opposition Leader said that citizens are being encouraged to contribute financially for now. According to him, through the efforts of the committee, a special bank account has been created at Republic Bank which will allow persons to donate money to the cause using any branch of the bank.
“The account number will be made public and bank records will be made and submitted to ensure transparency. The post office and Western Union are being approached to see how they too can facilitate in this exercise of allowing monies to be transmitted to the general fund.”
At the moment, Corbin said that he would not rush to prescribe additional solutions, but rather he believes that further action should come after Caricom’s intervention and subsequent discussions with the people of Haiti.
“What I would say immediately is the need for providing financial and other relief to them right there. We should be concentrating on what assistance we can take there, which is far from telling somebody who has tons of rubble still on them that we are hoping to resettle them. What we need is physical help to rescue the thousands who may still die.”
Every hour that there is a delay there is a possibility that more people will die, the opposition leader lamented.
Meanwhile, he noted that the tragic events in Haiti should provide the occasion for Guyana to seriously review its own disaster preparedness strategy. While Guyana is not located in either the Caribbean hurricane belt or near a major fault line, it is not immune from natural disasters, Corbin added.
The ever-present threat of the Atlantic Ocean along the country’s coastline, which is nearly six feet below sea level, and the continuous reality of sea-level rise from global warming, should be sufficient to motivate Guyanese not to behave like the five foolish virgins as highlighted in the Holy Bible, Corbin asserted. He noted that memories of the 2005 flood along the coast are still with most Guyanese, adding that “many still shudder when they contemplate what would have been the fate of Guyanese if the threatened conservancy dam had collapsed at that time.”
The unpreparedness of Guyana for such a disaster was evident, Corbin said, as it took weeks to assemble boats to assist communities flooded by some ten feet of water.
He highlighted that relief efforts were stymied by inadequate transport facilities and noted that the politicisation of the food relief efforts were deplorable. “As Guyanese mobilize our resources to assist the suffering people of Haiti, it is perhaps an appropriate time for us to review our own system,” Corbin stressed.
He highlighted further that while the services of the Civil Defence Commission is being used as the secretariat for the present relief efforts, there is still need to evaluate their performance from this perspective. The PNCR, he noted, is of the firm belief that such an evaluation must be carried out by a non-partisan professional group to ensure an objective assessment of Guyana’s capability. This would enable corrective action, he said, if found necessary, to be urgently undertaken.

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