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15 May, 2006

Suriname Flooding: Update# 6 -- Part 1 from NGO’s Network of Negotiators

Sharda Ganga who's heading the NGO’s Network of Negotiators in Suriname, an organization that has been coordinating relief efforts at ground level in affected areas eversince the disaster struck in the country has sent us the following update (May 11th) in Dutch which has now been completely translated into English thanks to Conchita Leeflang & Aruba Girl.

We are blogging Sharda's update in two parts, this part will consist of the current situation and the delivery of aid packages to those affected and the next part which will follow shortly will consist of visits to the affected areas by various delegations, financial administration and aid donations:

The weather and the water level

The latest news from Upper Suriname (around 7 pm) was that it started raining again. This is bad news, because the water was already returning to lower levels in certain areas. If the rainfall continues, the water is going to rise again. The bad news about the Lawa-Tapanahony is that the water has yet to reach it’s highest level, and is still rising. Currently between 1 and 1,75 meter. A total of 800 km2 in the Upper Suriname, and 15-16000 km2 in the Tapanahony/Lawa is under water.

The situation at Tjongalanga-pasi, the road to Atjoni which is now inaccessible, and literally became a day trip, is very critical. It is impossible to travel from Paramaribo to one of the villages that are further away in the Upper Suriname in one day to distribute goods. They just arrive way to late, and can only start working on it the next day.


What has been done

The NCCR has implemented a whole group of flights, where teams and goods where transported to central areas. “point of support” These teams include militaries, a volunteer from the interior, and a volunteer of the Surinamese Red Cross(SRC). They will take charge in distributing the goods, gain information and report it and guide the locales. The above mentioned will be guided by the administrative force (the B.O’s) who in turn will coordinate the distribution. Some of the goods sent were, rice, oil, soup, salted fish, beans and cassava.


Flights where flown to:

1. Djoemoe
2.Acajana
3. Stoelmanseiland
4. Laduani
5. Langatabiki
6.Drietabiki. Since landing here was impossible, the flight had to be redirected to Laduani. From there they went to drietabiki by boat.
7. Cottica on the Lawa
8. Botopasi
9. Tepu
10. Kwamalasemutu


The NGO’s (Dutch non governmental organization)

Through the NGO’s the following villages were provided with emergency packages:

Village / Number of packages
Gunsi-Gujaba / 750
Djumu (from Semoisie to Dangogo) / 100
The whole Paramaccan Area(Marowijne side) / 562

Total aid packages: 1462


Tomorrow, Friday our schedule will be as follow:

Palumeu / 50
Cottica at the Lawa and the Upper Saramacca / 330
Pikin Slee to Kono / 750
Djumu / 100
Dan to Tumaipa / 750
Gran Rio / 200

Total packages to be distributed: 2180


In case you are wondering who does what, there is continuous coordination between NCCR (National Coordination Centre for Disaster relief) and the NGO’s. Can’t be any different, We work together.


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1 Comments Post a Comment
Anonymous Anonymous said :

Wooow. Conchita leeflang is a Celebrity in Suriname. How cool that she did that. Very nice. She really seems to be a very nice person.

18 May, 2006 19:08