With the threat of Hurricanes currently looming for The Bahamas, many residents are closely monitoring forming storms in various weather forecasts.

This is because it is the middle of Hurricane Season, which starts in June 1 and ends November 30. Therefore, it is important for the residents of Grand Bahama to know how certain organizations on the island deal with such storms.

Supplies Officer and Deputy Co-Chair of the Disaster Committee, for the National Emergency Response Agency (NEMA), Tammi Mitchell spoke about the importance of the links between public and private sectors on the island.

She gave her presentation during a Rotary Club of Lucaya weekly meeting on Tuesday, September 27 at Ruby Swiss Restaurant.

Discussing the structure of NEMA, she stated that every island in The Bahamas is supposed to have a functioning Disaster Consultative Committee, which serves as NEMA’s ‘arm.’

“We are one of the islands that have the best function Disaster Committees within The Bahamas. We are the one that other islands are reaching out to for assistance in terms of training, and how they get coordinated efforts between the private and the public sectors,” she said.

According to Mitchell the committee is comprised of government and non-government agencies that are responsible for disaster mitigations, preparedness, response, and recovery. These agencies gather whenever there is a threat to discuss what should be done.

Mitchell stressed that presently the committee represents a team effort amongst residents on the island.

“Gone are they days when you should be reaching out to just the government,” she said.

She furthered that this is the reason why forming these links are important when handling disasters, because neither the government or non-government agencies can take care of it on their own.

Mitchell continued to describe the various functions of NEMA, starting with the National Disaster Response Plan for the island. This plan gives instructions on what the island is supposed to do during a disaster.

“Presently we are operating under these 13 emergency support functions – transportation, communication, public works and transport, international assistance, planning and information, mass care and shelter services, release supplies and distribution, help and medical services, search and rescue land and sea, hazardous material land and marine, schools, tourism, and volunteers,” she said.

Because there are so many categories, creating strong links between them are essential otherwise none of the functions can be carried out properly.

“Linkages are important. We can help coordinate efforts for assistance on the island with government and non-government agencies,” she said. “We can assist with providing emergency relief supplies,” she added.

She mentioned that supplies are sometimes limited; therefore, she or anyone who is in charge of that particular area has to keep a record of every item being signed out, everything has to be accounted for.

“It’s important for people to understand that even though they expect for the government to be responsible for supplying items, there are a number of organizations that we know people can reach out to provide that assistance,” she said.

Mitchell added that they do not have every item available, but they have just enough to “get the ball rolling.”

She continued to discuss the significance of training regarding persons assisting with disaster response. They have conducted two training programs so far this year, the first one being Initial Damage Assessment.

“These would be the first persons that would go out after an event to a particular area that would have been devastated and they would come back and give us an initial report,” she explained.

The second training program was Shelter Service Management. She said that many people from various companies participated in this program.

Tammi Mitchell, Supplies Officer and Deputy Co-Chair of the Disaster Committee

“We had persons from Social Services, BTVI, College of the Bahamas, Salvation Army, the Red Cross, the Post Office, even teachers,” she revealed.

There are other training programs being offered with the help of the Office For Disaster Assistance (OFDA) located in the United States. According to Mitchell OFDA provides the tools for training programs in the Bahamas, Barbados, and St. Kits and Nevis. The community emergency response team is another training program that is community based.

“We try to target persons living within their community to tell us what they feel are some of their threats, some of their vulnerable areas and even some of their concerns so we know how to target it when we come in that area,” she explained.

Mitchell stated that training for instructors is also available, which is often held in other countries. She explained that her training took place in Belize and it included extensive activities and the lowest score accepted is a 90. Although the training programs are lengthy the committee also participates in emergency response drills, which forms their own links. She gave the example of a previous airport emergency drill that focused on the threat of Ebola, where a patient with the disease was arriving on a plane.

Ebola virus disease (EVD), formerly known as Ebola hemorrhagic fever, is a severe, often fatal illness in humans. The virus is transmitted to people from wild animals and spreads in the human population through human-to-human transmission.

Mitchell said that the primary group for this drill was the Public Hospital Authority, and this drill tested their response to an actual event.

Another example of linkages formed happened during an event rather than a drill; when persons had to be rescued form the Queen’s Cove area during Hurricane Sandy. Mitchell mentioned organizations such as Sanitation Services and the Grand Bahama police officers assisting at that time.

The final linking event Mitchell discussed was the Black Swan Offshore Mass Rescue Exercise, which occurred in 2013, lead by the U.S. Coast Guard.

“All of the agencies, government, U.S., private and public sectors came together to be a part of this exercise,” she said.

Mitchell informed that it was an exercise where cruise ships were coming together and one of them developed trouble, started to sink and then everyone had to be evacuated off of the ship. She revealed that before this exercise took place she had to attend 64 meetings in a month’s time followed by two full days in an emergency operation center.

She finally stated that certain items are needed to aid in these disaster responses, such as more emergency shelters because Grand Bahama only has nine, which can house about 12,000 people. There is also a need for new first aid kits, rescue gear, water tanks, and volunteers.

According to Mitchell, all of the previously mentioned exercises, training programs and events prove that forming linkages not just locally, and nationally, but internationally is vital to manage each Bahamian island during natural disasters and other mass emergencies. This is because responding to such events are never individual jobs.

By: Abria Cooper

Freeport News, Guardian