 |
| Premier Amory accepts donation from Manager, Nevis Division Cable & Wireless, Mr. Jerome Rawlins.
|
Charlestown Nevis (October 12, 2005) Director of the Nevis Disaster Management Office (NDMO), Mr. Lester Blackett on Tuesday October 11, said that the Disaster Awareness Week of Activities was a success.
With the timely theme, Plan Now Don't Wait Disasters Don't Discriminate, the general public benefited from a number of activities, said Blackett. He thanked the individuals and agencies, who assisted in the success of the week saying, Your involvement, support and contributions allowed us to plan and implement a range of activities from 1st to 8th October, 2005.
One of the highlights of the week was an awards ceremony held at the Old Manor Hotel in Gingerland where three organisations namely, the St. Kitts and Nevis Fire and Rescue Service, Nevis Division, the Alexandra Hospital and Von Radio and two individuals namely, Mr. Llewellyn Newton and Mr. Arthur Anslyn received recognition for their outstanding involvement in disaster mitigation.
The Fire and Rescue Service was recognised in the area of Search and Rescue; the Alexandra Hospital in the area of Medical and Patient Care; Von Radio in the area of Public Information and Awareness; Mr. Llewellyn Newton for Preparedness and Response Management and Mr. Arthur Anslyn for Search and Rescue.
Speaking at the awards ceremony, Mr. Blackett said, When you have a programme like a disaster awareness week, it is important that persons use the opportunity to maximise their knowledge, to maximise their ability to be able to mitigate disasters and to be able to inform themselves of what should be done in preparation, how do you respond to it, how do you recover from it and other things which are a part of disaster management.
He expressed that the disaster office had come a long way and extended special thanks to Mr. Llewellyn Newton for laying the ground work.
Premier of Nevis and Chairman of the Disaster Management Committee, Mr. Vance Amory also reflected on Mr. Newton's contribution during his presentation. He said, I know of the stress which he felt and the countless hours which had to be spent without rest, trying to deal with the effects of a disaster.
I'm here not just speaking of hurricanes because we had to deal with a number of fires and had to comfort people. We've had to provide supplies for them, replace what they had lost whether it's a house or household equipment, and that is why I want you to become more aware of what can cause disasters and how, as individuals, we must prepare ourselves to prevent and mitigate disasters, said Amory.
Meanwhile, telecommunications giant, Cable and Wireless St. Kitts and Nevis Ltd, Nevis Division took the opportunity to donate eight GSM cell phones to the Nevis Disaster Management Office through its chairman, Mr. Amory.
Manager of the Nevis branch, Mr. Jerome Rawlins presented the gift on behalf of the company. He said, Once again, Cable and Wireless is quite pleased to express its commitment towards the development of Nevis, as the company recognises the importance of communication especially in times of disaster.
The Chairman in accepting the donation said Let me offer our gratitude to Mr. Rawlins, Vice President of Cable and Wireless and Manager of Nevis Office for the very generous contribution to the effort of being prepared or enabling us to ensure that we are in a state of preparedness if we should be struck by a disaster. Mr. Amory then presented the phones to Mr. Blackett.
