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#BTColumn – Kindly deliver on your promises

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Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by this author are their own and do not represent the official position of the Barbados Today.

by Jade Gibbons

It was Mission Critical in 2018 to upgrade the hurricane shelters across the island to be able to withstand Category 5 hurricanes. Yet two years later, it has proven to be Mission Impossible.

In the aftermath of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, the then BLP Opposition put building climate resilience at the forefront of the 2018 campaign agenda.

The People’s Manifesto boasted of their plans to restructure Barbados’ debt in order to gain the “elbow room” that would be needed to enact their grandiose vision for Barbados.

With tremendous tenacity and political fortitude, after the greatest electoral victory in Barbados’ history, our current government was able to renegotiate Barbados’ debt repayment agreement.

Well done to all those who were involved. However, although there are now the funds available to build climate resilience, it seems as though there is no longer the political will to do so.

The new electric buses are great. They have improved commuters’ travelling experience and will hopefully cut down on the expenditure needed to run the Transport Board.

The plan of turning every home in Barbados into an independent power plant by installing solar panels is great. Hopefully, it will reduce the cost of living for ordinary Barbadians.

However, electric buses cannot withstand a Category 5 hurricane, and neither can solar panels. The 2020 hurricane season has been one of the most active seasons on record. Thankfully, the storms have not done as much damage as the storms of the 2017 season.

However, the season is not over nor do we know what future seasons will bring.

According to the Department of Emergency Management – Shelters Booklet 2020, the public hurricane shelters in Barbados are as follows: Blackman and Gollop Primary School; Cuthbert Moore Primary School; Gordon Greenidge Primary School; The Lodge School; Tamarind Hall Branch Library; The University of the West Indies; The Coleridge and Parry School; Roland Edwards Primary School; West Terrace Primary School; St. Bernard Primary School; Daryll Jordan Secondary School; St. Leonard’s Boys’ School; Christ Church Foundation School; Gordon Walters Primary; St. Christopher Primary; Queens College; The Combermere School; Ellerslie Secondary School; Harrison College; Parkinson Memorial Secondary School; Hilda Skeene Primary; Hillaby/Turners Hall Primary; Lester Vaughan Secondary School; Arthur Smith Primary; Christ Church Girls; Deighton Griffith Secondary School; St. Bartholomew Primary; A. Dacosta Edwards Primary; Ellerton Primary; St. George Primary; St. George Secondary School; St. Luke/Brighton Primary; Good Shepherd Primary; St. Silas Primary; Mount Tabor Primary; St. Margaret’s Primary; St. John Primary; Grantley Adams Memorial Secondary School; St. Joseph Primary; Selah Primary School; Barbados Community College; Bay Primary; Charles F. Broome Memorial; George Lamming Primary; Grantley Prescod Memorial; Grazettes Primary; Hindsbury Primary; Lawrence T. Gay Memorial School; Luther Thorne Memorial; Springer Memorial Secondary School; St. Ambrose Primary; The St. Michael School; Westbury Primary; All Saints Primary School; Bayley’s Primary; Princess Margaret Secondary School; Reynold Weekes Primary; St. Catherine’s Primary; Holy Innocents Primary School; Sharon Primary.

Out of the 60 shelters listed above, 57 of them are schools. No two schools are identical, but most schools in Barbados have some physical plant issue that maintenance persons are grappling with.

In some schools the issue is structural due to the age of the buildings; in other schools unrepaired windows pose a daily health hazard to students; and in others there are unresolved termite infestations.

The list goes on and on and on. Only the maintenance workers at the specific schools could give a thorough explanation of the issues facing their physical plants.

Yet it is these same schools that make up 95 percent of the public hurricane shelters. The question therefore is: are our public hurricane shelters, our schools, strong enough to withstand a hurricane?

Resilience by definition is the ability to recover quickly from difficult conditions. Climate resilience is therefore the ability of a society, both the social environment and the physical environment, to recover, that is to absorb stresses and maintain function as well as adapt and reorganize, quickly, within a relatively short period of time, from difficult conditions created by the impact of climate change. I mention this because part of reorganizing quickly is the return of children to school.

Yet the present state of our schools indicates that in the event that a storm, of equal or greater magnitude as Hurricane Harvey, Irma or Maria, were to hit Barbados, our students would be out of school for an extended indefinite period of time. Not only that, but those persons who evacuated their homes to go to public hurricane shelters seeking refuge may find themselves still exposed to the elements.

Jade Gibbons is an arts and business graduate with a keen interest in social issues and film-making.

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