Govt to review emergency management laws after regional disasters

A review of national emergency management legislation and disaster response systems is to be undertaken as authorities seek to strengthen national preparedness in the wake of recent regional crises, including the powerful earthquakes in Venezuela, Minister of Home Affairs Gregory Nicholls has said.

The experiences gained by emergency personnel deployed overseas would also help shape improvements to the island’s own disaster management systems, he told Barbados TODAY.

Nicholls also revealed that Barbados had already joined the rescue and recovery efforts in Venezuela after a 7.2 magnitude quake, followed seconds later by an even stronger 7.5 magnitude on Wednesday.

A team of Barbados Fire Service firefighters has been dispatched to assist Venezuelan authorities:

“From all reports that we’ve received so far, the team has landed safely and have been deployed.”

The minister said he looked forward to receiving an operational debrief from the officers when they return, adding that their experiences would help refine Barbados’ own disaster preparedness plans.

He added: “My heart really goes out to the people of Venezuela, the government and people of Venezuela. This is a very, very challenging time,” he said, noting reports of aftershocks that had heightened fear and anxiety among residents.

Nicholls noted that Barbados had previously benefited from similar lessons after local emergency personnel assisted Jamaica following Hurricane Melissa last year.

“In the same way our teams which went out to help Jamaica… have been able to feed back information into our own national preparedness… we’ll be looking forward to those operational reports and the experiences of the fire service personnel who have been deployed in Venezuela.”

In the face of these disasters, he revealed that the government is preparing to modernise the legislation governing emergency management.

“We can’t be too cautious and right now I’m seriously looking at a review of all of the legislation and the processes and procedures that govern disaster and emergency management in Barbados,” Nicholls said.

He noted that the Emergency Management Act, enacted about 20 years ago, requires the Department of Emergency Management to prepare and submit a national disaster plan annually, but said it was time to review both the legislation and the country’s operational plans.

Nicholls added that planning for 2027 was already underway despite the country being in the midst of the current hurricane season.

“We’re already preparing to launch our plan for 2027… I’m satisfied that we are on track to make sure that we are able to respond in the event of any emergency, but we can never be too cautious. We can never be too careful, or we can never have enough planning.”

(SB)