G.O.B. Prepares Final Assessment of Wildfire Damages

The rains of the past week have brought on new challenges for people in the flood-prone areas, but it was just over a month ago that the country was praying collectively for some rains to quell the raging wildfires that were sweeping through so much of the rainforest and farmland. Today News Five asked the Minister of Sustainable Development, Orlando Habet for an update on how bad the wildfires really were. He said that NEMO was preparing a final assessment and so was the Forestry Department.

 

Orlando Habet, Minister of Sustainable Development

“From our side, the Forest Protection Agency, we’re doing a comprehensive assessment. We’re looking at satellite images trying to move out those areas that were affected last year and fires from two years ago. And so you can only hone down on what happened this year and to really come up with those pictures and possibly a value because of emissions. So it’s underway; we already have some pictures, already satellite images. We have been collaborating with other institutions, NASA, and so we’re getting that information and hopefully within the next week or so we’ll be able to finalize that and take it to Cabinet to do a Cabinet information paper.”