The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) warned yesterday that the Dominican Republic had better “take more care of the coastlines and watershed areas in order to avoid natural disasters such as those that struck Jimani and the DR’s East Coast following Hurricane Jeanne. Ricardo Zapata, the head of the Disaster Unit at ECLAC, will be visiting the Dominican Republic next week to look at the damage caused by Jeanne, and told El Caribe by phone that his team was extended an invitation by President Fernandez through the good offices of the United Nations. The ECLAC team will work with technicians from the ministries of the environment, agriculture, public health and tourism.
The delegation will also look at Haiti, where 2,400 people died in the area around Gonaives as a result of mudslides and flooding. They will visit Jimani and Mapou to evaluate the damages there and take a hard look at the Soliette (or White) River.
Zapata said in his telephone discussions with the newspaper that ECLAC is convinced that the disasters in Haiti and in Jimani are the result of poor ecological and environmental management that affects the whole island, with Haiti being in worse condition than the Dominican Republic. Zapata referred to the watersheds of the Yuna and the two Yaque rivers, both north and south, as being in need of much better environmental management and pointing out the disaster in Tamayo after Hurricane Georges.
On the bright side, Zapata pointed out that once the ECLAC report on the situation has been submitted, the country will have the option of seeking international financing to reconstruct the affected areas and to manage its shorelines and watersheds.