Govt to consider Dutch help on floods

Speaking with the media yesterday, Opposition Chief Whip Ganga Singh said he had made the suggestion to Works and Transport Minister Colm Imbert, who had promised to give it some thought.

According to Singh, since the Dutch lived under sea level, their expertise in flood prevention would be able to bring some sort of respite to persons who live in flood-prone areas in this country.

Singh said the suffering experienced by thousands of households over the last few days had been overshadowed by the euphoria of the football. He said most of the affected persons have been unable to cook, bathe, or perform their bodily functions because they did not have the facilities to do so. Some, he added, could not even get some much-needed sleep because their beds were wet.

The issue of compensation for affected persons, Singh said, had been raised with Prime Minister Patrick Manning, who had indicated he would look into it. Singh criticised the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM) for "only talking," adding that they have all the data on those who were regularly being affected by flooding, yet they (the ODPM) "continue to reinvent the wheel with every flood."