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Volcanic ash ‘to be included in disaster management plan’

by Marlon Madden
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The La Soufrière volcano ashfall has prompted Government to include the hazard in a revamped disaster management plan, Prime Minister Mottley disclosed Thursday.

Given the huge impact of the ash fall here, Barbados no longer had the luxury of excluding the eventuality in its emergency planning, she said.

Mottley told journalists that the island would always be at risk from ash fall given the structure of the Vincentian volcano and how it erupts.

After being dormant for four decades, the volcano roared to life in December, and last Friday it erupted, spewing thick plumes of ash into the air.

The thick blanket ash has led to a national cleanup exercise, which Mottley announced at the Grantley Adams International Airport.

She said it was likely that Bridgetown would probably be more at risk than Kingstown from the fallout given how the volcano was positioned.

It is for this reason that Mottley stressed the need for a new emergency management plan that included ashfall.

The PM said: “We have gotten in the drill every year to be able to prepare for hurricane season to know what to do with floods. We have now to have as part of our psyche, the preparation of monitoring any time La Soufrière is active.

“To that extent, Barbados from the airport, seaport, utility companies, government, everybody must always prepare a volcanic ash plan.

“From here on in, Barbados clearly has to have a volcano ash plan for all of these institutions.”

Mottley did not give any indication how soon such a plan would be put in place.

But she said the Ministry of Home Affairs has already reached out to the International Volcanic Health Hazards Network to get help in launching a major national education campaign. (MM)

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