Child Care Board tests level of disaster readiness
Tue, 06/28/2016 - 12:00am
Barbados, like other parts of the Caribbean, is susceptible to hazards including earthquakes.
With this in mind, the children and nursery officers of the Barbados Child Care Board (CCB) were recently actively involved in a full scale exercise to test their level of readiness in the event of a disaster.
Held on the grounds of the Nightingale Children’s Home in Black Rock, a fire and an earthquake drill were conducted by the technical teams from the Department of Emergency Management (DEM), the Barbados Fire Service, the Royal Barbados Police Force and the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA).
The exercise, which involved a total of 60 persons, was part of the Child Care Board’s efforts to improve its capacity to respond to disasters. The goal therefore was to test the emergency procedures for the Child Care Board in responding to a fire and an earthquake emergency within the Nightingale Complex. Specifically, the exercise examined how safety wardens, staff and occupants of both the Violet Child Care Centre and the Day Nursery follow the Board’s Emergency Procedures and safely evacuate the impacted premises.
According to Sheila Francis, Manager of Administration at the Child Care Board, “These drills are vitally important for us at the Nightingale Complex as they help us to be prepared in the event we have an actual disaster. We are indeed grateful for the assistance given by all the coordinating agencies today and wish for continued support.”
CDEMA in collaboration with the Child Care Board and the Barbados National Disaster Management System have jointly undertaken this capacity building initiative as part of the CDEMA’s 25th year anniversary celebrations and in recognition of Child Month, celebrated in May.
Deputy Executive Director of CDEMA, Elizabeth Riley highlighted CDEMA’s role in facilitating disaster risk reduction especially for vulnerable populations. “As you know, persons who are differently abled, as well as very young persons or very elderly persons, are of specific concern when we look at disaster management, and there are very specific considerations that we have to make for them.”
“From our Agency’s perspective, this is something we highlighted in our comprehensive disaster management strategy, and it is an important message we would like to send from this exercise,” she added.
Prior to this exercise, a disaster planning workshop was conducted with 40 early childhood operators and officers of the Child Care Board. Participants were exposed to a standardized approach to disaster preparedness, planning and response processes in a realistic environment as well as the terminologies used in these functions. (TL)