Christine Herridge, director of the Dominican Committee for the Mitigation of Disasters said in an interview for Listin Diario’s Sunday, 27 September issue that the country was not prepared to receive the hurricane because the people did not believe it would hit. She said, nevertheless, that the country is not devastated, as has been reported. The Committee is an entity of the Organization of American States that is sponsored by the Agency for International Development. After a four hour flight on Thursday over the DR she feels that the situation is not that critical. She said there are many houses with their zinc on, and that given the conditions of Dominican soil, the country fared relatively well. She said many more roads and bridges could have collapsed. She explained that the downing of so many trees has caused most of the chaos. The most affected zones are in the East and South, as well as slightly north and areas of Barahona and San Juan de la Maguana where flooding of rivers affected towns that over the years of drought had been build along where rivers formally passed. It is estimated that the overflowing of the Yaque del Sur River has affected the homes of more than 15,000 families. She estimated the death count could reach 1,000-2,000 persons. The government count so far is 201 dead persons. Regarding the dams, she feels that prevention measures were taken and thus the damages are less than what they could have been. She said that more than a technical problem, what the nation has before it is a political one. "One cannot allow human settlements in the routes of the waters of the rivers," she said. She said that areas near the rivers cannot be allowed to be inhabited again. She said that the Civil Defense evacuated the people to the shelters. She recommended that prior to be given the category of shelter, a crew of engineers should certify these places. During Hurricane David a church toppled killing around 400 persons. This time around an inadequate school shelter was destroyed causing the death of around 20 people. She said that better coordination is necessary. She feels the worst mistake was the lack of information. As of Monday afternoon, the hurricane was thought to follow a northern route, which had been the usual for hurricanes crossing the DR throughout the past 20 years. When it changed course in the evening and took a route that brought it to smash into Santo Domingo, it took every one by surprise. She said the rains that followed were not as devastating, with the exception of the flooding they caused. She explained that the country was not prepared for a hurricane because so many years had passed since David. There was much skepticism. For many years, the hurricane warnings were issued, people would prepare and the hurricanes would not come. She feels that the director of the Defensa Civil should be a person with experience and training in preparing for disaster, evaluation of damages, and great inter institutional coordination capacity and leadership. She was not critical of the new director of Civil Defense, saying his main problem was that he had been on the job for only 15 days.
