Community disaster response boosted with Red Cross gift

Community disaster response in the windswept rural northeastern parish of St Andrew received a boost Tuesday from the Red Cross Society with a range of emergency tools and equipment worth $15,000.

The gift includes three radio communication sets, wheelbarrows, ladders, forks, shovels, chainsaws, hard hats, hurricane straps and harnesses, reflective vests, booths, gloves, and tarpaulins, among other items. They were presented to members of the St Andrew Community Disaster Response Team at the Red Cross Society’s Warrens, St Michael office.

The CDRT is the group within the community that feeds information to the District Emergency Organization (DEO). Red Cross Programmes Manager Danielle Toppin commended the volunteers from St Andrew for committing to disaster response work within.

“For the different types of training that have been able to be provided I am really thankful that the Barbados Red Cross is able and positioned to offer this type of training and that you took ownership of it and I look forward to all the work that will continue and I look forward to [seeing] you blossom,” Toppin said.

Department of Emergency Management Programme Officer Joy-Anne Johnson said the various training initiatives and donation of equipment speak to the volume of assistance that the Barbados Red Cross Society has contributed to enhancing the National Emergency Management System.

Johnson said: “The Barbados Red Cross Society has in the past and continues to foster strong relationships with communities across the island through continuous collaboration with the Department of Emergency Management, which contributed greatly to the community’s capacity to prepare for and respond to hazards.”

Twice in June 2020 and again in November, the Barbados Red Cross offered online training to Community Disaster Response Teams in eight District Emergency Organizations.

Government Senator Dr Romel Springer who has supported the St Andrew CDRT said that because there are areas in St Andrew that are difficult to reach in the event of an emergency, the CDRT will complement the work of the DEO in that parish.

Through the intervention from the Red Cross Society, the community volunteers were exposed to training in basic first aid, fire preparedness, and communication.

Dr Springer said: “And today the support of the Barbados Red Cross Society has continued in the form of this disaster preparedness equipment. So on behalf of the committee and members of St Andrew CDRT, I wish to commend the Barbados Red Cross for this donation which comes at a time when Barbados is not only preparing for the hurricane season but is also battling an unprecedented global pandemic.

“The donation is very much appreciated and we look forward to continuing collaboration with the Barbados Red Cross as we seek to improve the strength and the resilience of our communities to respond to natural and manmade disasters and hazards”.

The St Andrew CRDT is to receive training on how to use the communication radios through the Barbados Citizens Band Radio Association sometime in the near future, an official said. (AH)