Santiago commission says report is a joke

[NewsWhore]

The Santiago commission of eminent professionals that looked at the events before, during and after Tropical Storm Olga told a press conference yesterday that the government's official report was a cruel joke and an insult to the intelligence of the people of Santiago and the nation. The Santiago commission also called on the government to identify those responsible for the dozens of deaths and the RD$5 billion in damages suffered by the city and the surrounding areas. The commission included Rafael Corominas, a former Minister of Public Works, Orlando Franco, geologist and civil engineer of international repute, and Erving Vargas, the former president of the North Region of Codia, the Dominican College of Engineers, Architects and Topographers. The Santiago group said that the official report avoids going into detail about the lack of coordination that precipitated the disaster, and they went on to say that if they (the official committee report) had done so, "they would have had to confirm that the authorities of the Dominican Corporation of State Electrical Enterprises (CDEEE) and the Dominican Enterprise of Hydroelectric Generation (EGEHID) imposed their criteria on the committee, more interested in the economic value of the water stored in the dam than the value of human lives in the danger zones." The Santiago commission added that "the legitimacy and credibility of a commission does not come from a governmental administrative memo, or the high positions held by its members, but rather from the professional quality and history of public service of it members."

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