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The Rupununi flood is an eye opener
Lethem and the Rupununi represent a story that will be told for years to come. The story would be one of extremes; it would be a story of reports of horror, of great times and of a rustic life. Today, it is a story of disaster, of communities being under water.
Residents who live there now say that this is the worst flood they can remember, so bad that one resident said that the water is some one meter higher than the highest point when the rains came with a vengeance and flooded large sections of Guyana in 2005.
The Rupununi is savannah land where cattle roam and where there is so much cross border travel that one is hard pressed to appreciate that a small river, dry for the most times, is a border between two countries.
This is the time of the annual May-June rains although there seems to have been a shift in the weather pattern. Coastal Guyana did not experience any severity in the weather but southern Guyana appears to have been pummeled. One may contend that what the world is witnessing are the effects of global warming that is now producing erratic weather conditions.
The rains have been almost incessant in the Rupununi. There has been severe damage to the main road link between the coast and that part of the world. Such has been the damage and destruction of the road that the major bus service has been withdrawn. But there is an air service for those who can afford it. Government is using that service to transport food into that part of southern Guyana.
The trucks, in normal times, helped with the cost of food, household articles, clothing and other things necessary for life. It would seem that until there was the road, such things were cheaper in neighbouring Brazil. In fact, landlocked Brazil wants access to Guyana’s coastal harbours so that it could export and import goods at a cheaper cost. It wants its exports to be more competitive on the international markets.
And so it was that when the floods hit the Rupununi these past few days it had to be a race between the Guyanese authorities and the Brazilians to help the affected people. Indeed there is a lot of cross border trade. Such was the trade that at one stage the people in the Rupununi, particularly Lethem, were more Brazilian than Guyanese.
Until the road link, their news and entertainment came from across the border. The radio signals did not get to the Rupununi. Recognising the importance of communicating with its people, the government actually set up a radio station in the location using people from the community. Guyana had had some bad political experience with that part of the country way back in 1969.
In 1969, because of the remoteness and the influence of Brazil some people living there attempted secession. They wanted to break away from the newly independent Guyana. Since then the southern part of the country has remained firmly Guyana. And the government has since stepped up its efforts to ensure that the people feel more Guyanese than Brazilian.
That is why there is this mass effort in the wake of the flood. Various Government Ministers have gone to the Rupununi in the wake of this disaster. They have mounted a massive relief effort and they are trying to get to the even more remote areas. In any case, Brazil must care for its own flood victims so it simply cannot help Guyana and this may be to the good of this country.
However, this relief is not left to the government alone. At least one businessman operating in Lethem has not only made his potable water supplies available to the flood-ravaged community, he also provided fuel for lighting purposes, free of cost. Surely, human nature is not dead.
But there is another aspect to all that is happening. Everyone recognizes that the southern part of Guyana is expanding correspondingly with the development of Guyana’s southern neighbour. Further, this is the area that is going to be regional spring board to South America.
The cost of getting relief efforts to the Rupununi at this time must signal to the authorities that the road link must be improved. National pride caused us to refuse the Brazilian offer to do the road. Perhaps we should swallow that pride and accept the offer.
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