SANTO DOMINGO.- The commission the government designated to investigated the handling of Tavera dam which is blamed for killing 30 people during Tropical Storm Olga determined that the operation carried out on that day was adequate, though noted that the Dam’s Emergencies Operation Committee couldn’t work appropriately from the absence of a coordinator to head it.

It recommended to president Leonel Fernandez to permanently designate a person with sufficient authority, ability to lead, technical knowledge and coordination capacity, to assume its control.

In its conclusions contained in a report dated March 12, presented yesterday in the Armed Forces Ministry, the commission said the forecasts contemplated in the dams instruction manual, as well as the Dam Operations Committee’s current capacities are based on "reactive" procedures when they could be based on "predictive" analyses.

It stressed the fact that the phenomenon’s occurrence outside the hurricane season shouldn’t limit the decision-making when faced with critical situations such as those which have appeared in the last few years and which are attributable to climatic change.

After the report’s presentation engineers and architects guild (CODIA) president  Juan Tomás Hernandez defended the dam’s handling, whereas Santo Domingo Aqueducts Agency (CAASD) director, Mariano German, said it’s not the first time Tavera’s water-drainage sparks controversy.

He cited as an example the criticism agaisnt the authorities after Hurricane David and Tropical Storm Frederick in 1979.