New approach to handling hazards

This island’s disaster emergency management preparedness is being reviewed to better deal with future volcanic eruptions.

Director of the state-owned Department of Emergency Management Kerry Hinds said today the unfolding eruptions of the La Soufriere Volcano and the impact of the high level of ash dumped on the island has taught authorities that their approach must be different to confront this scenario which is “new” to the island.

“Every hazard has its own peculiarities and every response is different. So in terms of dealing with this one we will learn from these lessons now. This is the first time people are dealing with volcanic ash for most people. I have heard from some people who would have gone through 1979, they cannot remember it being like this. So even in terms of what we do with the ash and just the basic cleanup and so on, those are things that we have activated our mechanism to deal with and we are actively looking to see how best we can deal with that,” Hinds told Barbados TODAY in an interview.

“You need to be flexible in your approach. For most of us, it is a new hazard that we have to deal with because a lot of us don’t have it in our living memory and we would not have been through something like this for a large part of the population. While it is a different hazard you still have to go through the same disaster management process in terms of response to an event and then of course, recovery from that event,” the senior official said.

Meanwhile, the disaster management agency reported minimal requests for assistance today from local residents as their attention focused more on the national clean-up of the ash which has forced the closure of the island’s two main ports-of-entry and non-essential businesses.

“There were only two calls that came in today. I think that most persons are just trying to clean up around them. We too were doing our checks and cleaning up around the building and just cleaning off the building from the ash fall,” Hinds said.

“Once conditions permit, we may be able to render assistance by going and conducting assessments of situations and if for instance people need anything, we can look for that within the system. But we have not had much of that today. I think it is a case where people are just staying in side and just battening down and hoping that it comes to an end soon. But as a department we try to push out that information, those safety tips to people,” she stated.

Hinds gave the assurance that authorities here have been monitoring the event as it unfolds.

She said that Barbados being the sub-regional focus point for disaster management  in the Eastern Caribbean, the DEM has been a part of the various coordination meetings in trying to ascertain what types of needs St Vincent and the Grenadines has, while at the same time looking out for Barbados.

Hinds added: “We have been a part of that process as well as monitoring here, because at this point, persons would have to go through their damage assessments, because they would have been impacted by the ash, including the department This is unlike a hurricane setting where the hurricane passes and then you go out and you clean up and life goes on.

“This one now, you actually have to be monitoring because it can be days, it can be weeks that you are waiting for the volcano to erupt, it is continuously erupting now. So we are in an active stage at this point. So whatever we can do at this stage in terms of trying to lend some assistance to persons here in Barbados because of the ashfall and persons in St Vincent because of what they are experiencing, we are doing that,” the disaster emergency management director told Barbados TODAY.

Hinds also warned Barbadians to avoid going outside at this time with all the dust in the atmosphere.

“You don’t want persons to go out and then they endanger themselves. We have been sending out a lot of information on our social media pages in terms of what persons can do to prevent the ash from impacting them personally as well as little tips in terms of cleaning down your house, what you can do with your pets, that sort of thing.”

Hinds noted that St Vincent and the Grenadines has issued a needs list regionally and Barbados has started to provide support by supplying equipment and other items.

The needs’ list include such items as field tents, field kitchens, respirator masks with filters, goggles, hygiene kits, reflective vests, blankets and water tanks.

Hinds revealed that the government of the sister island has also asked Barbados to send its field hospital.

“The Barbados Defence Force along with us, we are looking at transporting items to St Vincent via ship. I know they would have asked to mobilize our field hospital, so that will probably go down as well along with the team that will assist,” she said.

“The department has been coordinating with private sector bodies such as the BMA [Barbados Manufacturers’ Association]  and Chamber of Commerce. St Vincent would have asked CDEMA to coordinate in terms of items including cash donations. We are on the ground actively looking to assist with that and to assist with the logistical component.” the DEM head stated. (emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb)