DEM begins national training exercise for DEOs

Director of Emergency Management (DEM) Kerry Hinds said 29 out of 30 District Emergency Organisations (DEOs) are up and running and ready to respond to national emergencies.

Speaking to the media, on Saturday, at the opening ceremony of Exercise Montgomery – a national training exercise for members of the DEOs – Hinds said the expectation was that by yearend all of the organisations would be active with functioning members, to ensure that community volunteers are in a state of readiness for natural disasters and emergencies.

Director of Emergency Management (DEM) Kerry Hinds

She said 104 participants will take part in Exercise Montgomery, at Queens College, St James which is a radio simulation exercise designed to discuss various scenarios and the capabilities of communication.

“Also this provides an opportunity for the volunteers to network. We would have gone about volunteer engagement sessions over the past couple of months, encouraging persons to join from our various communities, so that we can increase the complement of community volunteers. Now these community volunteers are so important to our national emergency management system and augment the resources of the national agencies such as the Department of Emergency Management, the Barbados Fire Service, the Royal Barbados Police Force and such.

“So today’s activity is really ensuring that we in Barbados are ready for any eventuality. The season is one that is expected to be active so we are always in a constant state of readiness. We seek to refine our plans and procedures on an ongoing basis and we are ever mindful that although we are in the hurricane season, there are various other hazards that we have to treat to,” Hinds said. (AH)