Recent activities in Guyana and across the world such as flooding, earthquakes and severe high tides, to name a few, have surely been a wake up call for many especially the thousands of people directly affected by these unusual conditions.

While we in Guyana may consider ourselves to be in a better position than many other countries that are faced with really drastic disasters as other countries, we’ve still been exposed to the reality of climate change.

Everyday we can read about the realities facing many states in the U.S. which have been hard-hit by severe flooding, and other parts of the world experiencing disasters which they had never imagined.

The 2005 flood was perhaps the only severe disaster Guyana has had in years and while it brought a lot of us into the grips of reality, there were still many citizens who thought that the flood occurred because of bad drainage and its mismanagement by the government.

In fact, they were many who succumbed to the politicking of the situation by anti-government individuals and blatantly refused to accept that the flood of 2005 was the beginning of an era in Guyana where citizens had to be on the alert for more to come.

Then a few days ago we had the Spring Tides that spilled over the East Coast Demerara seawall causing flooding of several villages. This event really caught the community off guard but having interacted with the residents, I am certain that they have learnt a lesson.

We are no longer dealing with a situation that is the responsibility of the government, it is simply acts of nature and we need to be prepared by firstly acknowledging the reality facing us.
A. WONG