EDITORIAL – We must be prepared for anything

In the next few days, Barbados will cross the official start of the
2020 Hurricane Season.

We have always heard that if you fail to prepare, then you should be
prepared to fail.

With the ongoing threat of COVID-19, many Barbadians have not been
focused on the threat of hurricanes. Whether this is advisable or not,
it stands to reason that many will have to turn their attentions to
making the preparations to ensure that their families and properties
are secure.

The restrictions which were put in place for COVID-19 have allowed
many persons to see what they would need to protect first their
families and then their properties. Viewing overhanging trees which
may need trimming, or debris which would need to be cleared, it has
allowed a cessation in the normal hustle and bustle of daily Barbadian
lives to find a way to critically look at our properties.

One lesson of COVID-19 is the need to be mobile enough to respond to
any eventuality. Being able to conduct business online if necessary
will be critical if certain infrastructure is compromised in any way
by the potential impacts of any weather system which threatens this
island.

Many might wonder what this season offers as this year has thrown its
fair share of curveballs, from the promise of New Year’s Day to the
reality of the start of what is forecast to be an active season.

We have discovered just how interconnected we are as a globe – when
one country is impacted, given the ways which
we interact, that we will all feel the effects.

Regardless of what history will reveal about the final impacts of
COVID-19, we have to protect our way of life by ensuring that we do
all that is within our power to safeguard everyone we can.

Now the twin challenges of COVID-19 and the hurricane season must be
tackled together. Barbados, it is clear that this is not the script
which we would have chosen, but it what we will face with the normal
tenacity which underlines what it means to be a Barbadian.

These 166 square miles, regardless of which political stripe has held
power, has always done what seemed impossible. We triumphed even when the odds seemed
insurmountable and we will do so again.

Barbadians will prepare. They will go out and make repairs sufficient
enough to protect their properties and their families.   Barbadians
will continue to practise social distancing and move with care across
this island to protect themselves from this viral threat also.

We have suffered loss before and have rebuilt. The rise of powerful
storms has driven this island to action before and we will do so
again.