CDEMA asks Suriname for assistance

The Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) recently asked Suriname for assistance in the form of logistics workers who will be deployed on the islands that were pummeled by Hurricane Irma. Hurricane Irma, one of the strongest storms ever recorded in the Atlantic, hit the eastern Caribbean on September 5, 2017 as a Category 5 hurricane with winds of up to 185 miles an hour. Irma first made landfall in Barbuda with gusts of 155 mph, causing an eight foot storm surge. Early Wednesday morning, the eye of Irma then moved over St. Martin, St. Barthelemy and near Anguilla, where sustained winds of 117 mph were measured. The Category 5 storm, which killed at least 28 people across the region, devastated housing, power supplies and communications, leaving some small islands almost cut off from the world. European nations sent military reinforcements to keep order amid looting while the damage was expected to total billions of dollars. Ex-pat billionaires and poor islanders alike were forced to take cover as Irma tore roofs off buildings, flipped cars and killed livestock, raging from the Leeward Islands across Puerto Rico and Hispaniola then into Cuba before turning on Florida.

Colonel Jerry Slijngaard who is in charge of the National Coordination Center for Disaster Control (NCCR) pointed out that he would discuss CDEMA’s request with government officials.

Slijngaard pointed out that Suriname is giving more aid and support than is expected. Besides lending a helping hand in the form of manpower, Suriname is always prepared to help out other nations in times of calamity. CDEMA presently comprises eighteen Participating States namely: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Commonwealth of the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, Republic of Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts & Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Suriname, Republic of Trinidad & Tobago, Turks & Caicos Islands and the Virgin Islands.