EDITORIAL

Staying prepared all year round

This Friday June 1st signals the beginning of the Atlantic hurricane season, and local and regional disaster relief agencies have already stepped up dissemination of hurricane preparedness warnings. This year the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is predicting 10-16 named storms, five to nine hurricanes, and one to four major hurricanes with Category 3 strength or higher.

With the damage caused by Hurricanes Irma and Maria, it is crucial that stakeholders take hurricane preparedness seriously at this time. Still, the severity of the risks faced by these types of weather systems should be acknowledged by all individuals year-round, not just between the months of June to November, since some preparations may take more time to implement than the weather allows.

Safeguarding one’s home, for instance, should always be at the forefront of one’s mind, so instead of relying on last minute measures like tying down roofs or boarding up windows, consideration can be given even outside of the hurricane season to installing hurricane shutters to protect windows or hurricane straps to protect roofs. Furthermore, while awareness of hazard preparedness has increased among the Caribbean population, there is still a need for persons to ensure that their homes are being built to the correct safety standards. Training in the construction sector to ensure that correct methods are employed during the building stage is vital, so that it would become the norm and not the exception, for all homes to be built with hurricane resistance in mind. This move is not only welcome, but long overdue.

Another area where many persons fall down, and which can, and should, be addressed prior to the start of June is the matter of insuring property. Home and business structures should be insured to cover any possible damage which can result from weather systems, either directly or indirectly – including damage caused by flooding and fire. While Barbadians have been spared the ravages of a serious hurricane in recent years, lessons can be learnt from the many house fires which leave uninsured homeowners reeling from loss with little prospect of rebuilding.

Personal possessions too, should be protected. Private safes or safety deposit boxes at commercial banks can keep important documents like deeds, wills, or even jewellery in good condition and damage-free; for after a storm or a hurricane, it is easier to pick up the pieces and move on if you do not have to worry about recovering the cost of lost possessions or damaged property.

In the end it all comes down to being as prepared as possible and in this national response teams can take the lead. Focus should be on creating and strengthening the region’s national response teams, training through simulation of disaster conditions and search and rescue, and re-strategising with regard to stocking of regional warehouses and the deployment of personnel. In addition, teams have widened their scope from that of hurricane relief alone, to include disasters like tsunamis and earthquakes. Barbadians and our Caribbean neighbours should take a leaf out of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA’s) book and take hurricane preparedness more seriously. That organisation was at the forefront of disaster relief last year in its coordinated response to hurricane relief in Dominica and other regional territories affected by hurricanes.

Traditionally, it has been routine to see hundreds of people lined up within hours of an approaching system to buy food, sheets of wood, or other emergency material. This type of behaviour must be improved upon. Wherever possible, emergency stock should be obtained beforehand and every precaution taken to prepare for any disaster. As Caribbean people, our actions should reflect more than a fleeting rush to ride out a storm; for us in the region, it should be a way of life.

Barbados Advocate

Mailing Address:
Advocate Publishers (2000) Inc
Fontabelle, St. Michael, Barbados

Phone: (246) 467-2000
Fax: (246) 434-2020 / (246) 434-1000