BASSETERRE St. Kitts, March 30th 2011 - The move to immerse local communities into comprehensive disaster management mode has been the goal of National Disaster Coordinator, Carl Herbert, for some time now. So it was with a great sense of anticipation, that a train the trainers workshop, involving public school teachers, was given top priority by the Ministry of Education as well as the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).

“NEMA has always sought to change the local hurricane preparedness culture,” Mr. Herbert said, “to a multi-faceted approach, involving mitigation and preventive measures taken against a variety of potential hazard impacts.”

Partnering with the Ministry of Education and the United States Office of Foreign Assistance (USAID/OFDA), NEMA is on the threshold of accomplishing just that, if a recent consultation that defined the school safety programme, achieves its objectives.

The Consultation, which brought together thirty participants from both St. Kitts and Nevis, sought to deliberate on the outputs of a School Safety Workshop, where public school teachers were trained, in an effort to develop emergency response capacity, in schools.

“The exercise was extremely interactive and hands on,” Mr. Herbert said, “and the intent to attach timelines to actions, in order to give focus and momentum to the progression, was satisfied.”

According to Herbert, the programme will be re-introduced in schools following NEMA’s earthquake public awareness campaign, which will commence next month. “The initial exercise slated for schools,” he said, “is First Aid Training, which includes Basic Life Support and Resuscitation Training for teachers and some students of primary and secondary school age.”

Also of critical importance, was the decision to mandate that both public and private schools, engage in regular emergency drills, beginning the end of this year. Senior Education Officer, Dr. Michael Blake has said that no one knows with any certainty where our children will be, in the face of any hazard or impending disaster, “...so our best defence,” he suggests,” is to prepare our teachers and our students, to respond in any eventuality.” The programme was actually conceptualised by Blake years ago, but quickly lost steam at the behest of a variety of resource related challenges and hindrances.

One of the participants, who remained confident that the School Safety Programme would resurface, noted “...when good programmes die, there is always a chance that they can be revived, if the concept is sound and supporters are committed to the process.”

Schools are to prepare disaster plans that are unique to their individual arrangements, as well as to sensitise students to all hazard response activities, in collaboration with NEMA, in advance of the programme’s commencement.

“Our best response to hazards,” Mr. Herbert says, “is determined by our level of preparedness and leaving our children unprepared, leaves our efforts exposed and vulnerable. Their survival, as well as the survival of others, might depend upon what they do or do not know.”