In 23 years of providing rescue and recovery services to third world countries and migrant people all over the world...I've never been stone walled by a more corrupt and unfeeling government.
Donated supplies from TS NOEL disappeared before ever making it to the barrios and campos. Money donated from other countries was STOLEN by the very DR governmental moochers who extended their hands like the poor in the streets of the DR. They gave the hungry........ rice and oatmeal, but no fresh water or a means to cook it.
And now, they lie again.....claiming to have warned the people.
Serious questions were asked of General Luna after TS Noel. He walked away from the microphone instead of those answering questions. The DR government has NO PLANS for any emergency, no budget for relief after an emergency and no desire to develop one. Their lack of action speaks louder than any words...
TWICE this year....Government officials have left the country's poor to the devices of Mother Nature in hopes she will wash away the country's burden of the destitute....and have done so while claiming to have "under estimated" the strength of two storms even though their access to modern day forecasting is only a click away.
(yes, I know..Dominican weather people don't work on Sundays)
If in fact you live in the DR, I urge you to prepare yourselves....to "get a plan", to secure your home, store emergency food and water and know exactly what you are going to do when the real storm comes....perhaps the DR1 group can get together and provide "shelter" for each other depending on where you live on the island....in othe words, have safe shelter in different areas with DR1 friends.
This year's storm tracks took the majority of every tropical system within striking distance of the DR, most became Category 3 or higher systems. The TWO storms that devasted parts of the island were "nothing". I say this being a survivor of two CAT 5 storms, a CAT4 and numerous CAT1 hurricanes...I was deployed to New Orleans and Mississippi post Katrina. Bloated bodies, starving and scared aggressive dogs....the stench and the sights some of the worst I've ever seen.
The day the DR is hit by a real hurricane, life in the island's affected areas will be surreal and seeing the government's inabilty and lack of desire to respond after this season should bode well as a warning as to their plans for the "big one"....it's not a matter of IF, it's only a matter of WHEN.
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