NEMO getting better prepared for disaster

“Prevention is better than cure!” This is the old maxim, and bearing this in mind, members of the National Emergency Management Office (NEMO) are getting prepared for any disaster that may occur.

In an interview with SEARCHLIGHT, the Deputy Director of NEMO Michelle Forbes said that the organization is in the process of training persons in the community to be prepared in the event of a disaster.

“We will be strengthening the communities to be better prepared for any eventualities,” Forbes stated.{{more}}

In the first quarter of this year their main goal is to conduct programmes on seismic hazards, how to prepare for volcanoes, tsunamis and earthquakes.

Addressing the gathering at the 2nd National Consultation on Comprehensive Disaster Management (CDM) at the Peace Memorial Hall on Thursday, January 18, Consultant Eleanor Jones told the gathering that one of the major achievements that the organisation has accomplished is the training and awareness program. This she said was developed and implemented within agencies of both public and private sectors that are partnering with the organisation.

According to her, for the next five years, the main aim of NEMO is to have sustainable development in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Also addressing the audience, Jeremy Collymore of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency (CDERA), expressed the need for the region to deepen their cooperative programming for disaster management and the need for the intensified and more sustained efforts at the country level for CDM.

According to Collymore, while there has been development of the national disaster offices, the national capacity in many countries has remained relatively weak.

“There is a need to get beyond event-driven sensitivity which tends to have a very short life span,” Collymore told the audience on Thursday.

For the rest of this year their main focus will be on the management of hazard risk and the significance of disaster management to our development and the implications for not addressing it.