Minister Habet Says We Must Learn from the Natural Event

Orlando Habet

As of now, it is difficult to assess the financial damages. When the water subsides, a better assessment of the damages can be carried out.  The flyover also took the team into the Mountain Pine Ridge area where the dams are spilling. Minister Orlando Habet says that as a country, we must learn from natural events like these and adapt.

Orlando Habet, Minister of Climate Change & Disaster Risk Management

“Some of the work that we have done right now is up river trying to improve the early warning systems. A lot more work, a lot more equipment has to be done and put into place. But also what it is telling us and for some of the advisory that we have already did is that this water will take another two to three days to flow down and eventually reach into the Belize River Valley area where the water will spread out and there is certainly going to be some flooding event in these areas. And so supporting the advisories, we are asking those who live near the rivers and near the waterways to move out, take out their livestock is possible, their homes to be cleaned out as much as possible so that the damages are less when you have early warning and you can move out in time. And as the river narrows and it forms areas where it sort of dams because it can’t go forward, then the water starts backing up and it spreads out as far as possible.”