Always Be prepared

Colonel Glyne Grannum, Chief of Staff of the Barbados Defence Force, is warning Barbadians that they need to be ready for any eventuality, especially as it relates to disaster preparedness.

He was speaking to the media yesterday as he welcomed the troops who arrived on the HMBS Leonard C Banfield at the Coast Guard headquarters, Spring Garden, from their deployment to the Commonwealth of Dominica.

According to him, “There is nothing that says we cannot be affected on the scale or worse than Dominica, therefore we need to take a particular consciousness, awareness and readiness to getting ready for severe weather systems like hurricanes. Being ready is a change of behaviour, involving not just us in the military, but what communities do to develop plans for looking after vulnerable persons. It involves re-engineering, redesigning, taking care of the environment; it involves supporting those who go into harm’s way; and it is a
complex and diverse array of activities that span not just the military but the entire nation.”

He added, “The next hurricane season begins in the next seven months, so going forward we are determined to continue to assist Dominica as it requires specific items...Barbados remains a leading member of the regional security system and in that responsibility is the Barbados Defence Force to maintain a level of commitment to the security alliance, and that would mean if they require assistance in terms of reinforcement etc. we will be willing to redeploy persons, and we are also backed and reinforced by the CDEMA mechanism to assist with disaster mitigation planning."
(NB)