PARAMARIBO--The flash floods that have inundated villages in the hinterland, are slowly subsiding, Colonel Jerry Slijnhaard, National Coordinator Disaster Management NCCR has reported. Some 1,500 residents of Maroon villages in the Lower Marowijne river area have been relocated to higher grounds in recent days, after heavy downpours over the weekend.
Government has meanwhile established an emergency fund for the stricken inland residents, and made an appeal to the community to donate as much as possible. Several companies have already pledged help. Government has also arranged for food packages to be sent to the area; the first 1,500 packages that included basic needs like rice, canned foods and bottled water, were flown out on Tuesday and distributed among the flooded villages.
The floods were the result of heavy rains that poured down all night Friday into Saturday. Villagers woke up to find that the river’s water level had swollen by some three metres and had crossed over into the living areas; in some villages water reached up to one metre high. The worst hit were villages in the Ampoma Tapu area alongside the Lower Marowijne River in south-eastern Suriname. This area is littered with small Maroon villages, that together account for some 2,000 residents, including small gold miners.
Colonel Slijngaard on Tuesday placed some guilt on the gold miners, who probably weakened the dikes with their digging. The NCCR director said his department was keeping a close eye on these barriers.
Updating journalists on the measures Government was taking, President Desi Bouterse said on Monday that it could take weeks before the situation in the area normalises. He said people are in dire need of help and that Government was also closely monitoring the state of public health in the area.
