00:00Transcription by CastingWords
00:30Transcription by CastingWords
01:00But imagine if you're forced to contend with such an occurrence and you have a disability.
01:04For instance, you're blind, deaf or wheelchair bound.
01:08The need for assistance, whether relief or rescue, can more easily become a matter of life and death.
01:15It's something that the Disaster Management Unit of the Ministry of Rural Development and Local Government has recognized.
01:21Head of the DMU Jerry David says the unit has developed a system from its shelter platform.
01:27This is where we have all our shelters located.
01:31So what we did, we adapted that and created another, just coming off of that, that is an ArcGIS platform.
01:38Yes, coming off of the ArcGIS platform where we know all our shelters, we said we can now use this to know where all our vulnerable people are.
01:49We have started at local government to map where all our blind persons live.
01:57It is being done in collaboration with the Blind Welfare Association and includes the names and exact geographical positioning of these vulnerable people.
02:07According to David, during disasters, a top priority is to evacuate the most vulnerable.
02:13Each color-coded dot on the map represents a person.
02:17Red, highest risk, yellow, medium risk, and green, lower risk, using a vulnerability matrix.
02:25So for instance, if you live in Penaldebe and you live in the floodplain or on the banks of a river, and you are blind, we definitely will have to hold you as well.
02:34So we know that in a case like that, and we have to evacuate, we have to start to move you first.
02:40Now we have started here at the local government with the blind.
02:44We have been doing training with them in CPR and first aid.
02:48We have also started with the deaf, so we have been doing CPR and first aid with them.
02:54And soon we will have them on this platform also.
02:57Then we're moving on to all the other disabled persons who may be wheelchair-bound, some may be bedridden, infirmed.
03:07The aim is to be able to map all of the vulnerable people in the country.
03:12It's something David states would take time, but it's not just about coordinating with the different associations under which the vulnerable fall.
03:20So you may ask, well, why we can't get all of them now?
03:23Excuse me, not everybody wants to go on this.
03:26So we have to get their permission.
03:28So this is a voluntary thing.
03:29Yes, not everybody wants to go on it.
03:32So we have to ask persons, would you like us to be, well, we're taking a lot of responsibility for them, should we need to evacuate them.
03:42But in this country, there are no mandatory evacuation laws, and it remains strictly on a voluntary basis.
03:50Do you think that there should be?
03:52Yes, there should be.
03:54Respectfully, there should be mandatory evacuation laws that says if a Category 2, 3 hurricane is going to make landfall,
04:04we know very well the communities that are going to be inundated with floodwaters.
04:09As was mentioned in Part 1 of Sustain or Sink, the Community Flood Early Warning System is able to monitor riverine levels in areas where it has been implemented,
04:19enabling agencies to issue advance warnings.
04:23With around 27 stream flow stations set up in various parts of the country,
04:27and 60 crucial areas outlined by the Water Resource Agency for monitoring, the DMU is halfway there.
04:34On the 15th of September, I'm going to another meeting where the UNDP is going to fund even more stream flow stations.
04:42Do you know how many?
04:44I know for now we have working, maybe about 27 or so, working all over the country because we are trying to cover all the major rivers.
04:55David adds that additional grant funding is needed.
04:58The DMU is also expecting to get some rescue boats from an international donor,
05:02and David hopes that more institutions will come on board to assist in getting cameras attached to the stream flow stations.
05:11Alicia Boucher, TV6 News.
05:32Alicia Boucher, TV6 News.
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