BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – WITH experts indicating that the 2016 Atlantic Hurricane Season is expected to be more active than those of the past three years, the people of St. Kitts and Nevis are again being reminded that a heightened level of preparedness is key in mitigating against the effects in the event of the Federation being impacted by a storm.
Notwithstanding that the season officially commenced yesterday (Jun. 1), two storms – Hurricane Alex and Tropical Storm Bonnie – formed earlier in the year.
While the Emergency Management Agency’s (NEMA) is accustomed to promoting preparedness messages for Hurricane Seasons, Deputy National Disaster Coordinator Claricia Langley-Stevens told SKNVibes that this year the agency is focusing on and promoting family and community preparedness. She said these are the cornerstones of the overall preparedness of the country.
She explained that according to information NEMA received from the Met Office, “We can expect a near to above-average season with about 12 named storms, two of which are expected to become hurricane strength. Of course, it can be more!
“NEMA has engaged all national stakeholders, including our National Disaster Sub-committees and our District Management Teams, to ensure that we are at a state of readiness and preparedness for the start of the hurricane season. The National Disaster Sub-committee Chairs have assured NEMA that their committees are working tirelessly to ensure that in their areas such as shelter management, transportation etc., everything is in place and that they stand ready to respond in the event of.”
She explained that there are eight districts in St. Kitts and that NEMA is in the process of dialoguing with community leaders etc., with a view to pinpointing vulnerabilities and dealing with them as comprehensively as possible.
Langley-Stevens said while there is need for preparedness at the community level, families and individuals need also to be vigilant and in a state of alertness.
“We want to use the opportunity to encourage family members, if they have not yet done so, to develop a simple family plan which would let each member know, in the event of an emergency, what to do and who would be responsible for what, where they should gather as a safe point so that they can all make decisions as to the next step. In addition, we also want to encourage households to have a basic first aid kit and these can be very useful in the time of a disaster.
“We also want to encourage persons to know who their District Management Teams are. We want you to familiarize yourselves with the emergency shelters in your area so that if you need to access these persons or shelters, you would know exactly who they are and where they are located.”
The Deputy Coordinator said it is important for citizens and residents to make checks around their homes to ensure their roofs are secured and that debris is removed.
“We want residents and citizens to ensure that their surroundings are kept clean. And this is an opportune time also to remind persons to check their homes, their roofs to make sure everything is intact. We also want to ensure that all debris, garbage, are removed so that during a storm we don’t have anything left hanging around that can form a missile, because they can be very dangerous.”
Stevens said during the upcoming weeks NEMA would be going into the different communities to further promote the readiness message because “we want persons to take disaster preparedness very seriously, particularly during this time of the year”.
