"Man never made any material as resilient as the human spirit." - Bernard Williams

Two weeks ago, Hurricane Matthew entered the Bahamian chain of islands in Inagua as a Category 3 hurricane. For the next few days, Matthew pulverized the archipelago, sparing only Eleuthera and Abaco. The residents of North Andros and Grand Bahama were especially devastated and, although this is the most ferocious hurricane to visit us in almost 90 years, there was not one single death attributed to the storm.

Therefore, this week we would like to Consider this... what lessons can be learned from Hurricane Matthew?

Preparing for Matthew
In the days leading up to Matthew's assault on The Bahamas, there were consistently ominous warnings by the organs of state. The National Emergency Agency (NEMA) sounded the early warnings that this was a very dangerous hurricane that would likely hit most islands of The Bahamas. Prime Minister Perry Christie, having learned from Hurricane Joaquin 12 months earlier, realized that it was absolutely necessary for the country to be prepared. He admonished very early in the process "no island will be spared" the ravaging effects of the hurricane.

Christie was focused, organized and communicated to the entire nation. He should be commended for his admonitions of and plans for being adequately prepared. He demonstrated real leadership in the face of imminent danger. It is safe to say that, as a result of the attentiveness that residents paid to the early warnings about the potentially impending devastating destruction that could have developed, lives were saved.

Matthew's devastation
Having left a trail of destruction and death in Haiti and Cuba, Matthew bore down on The Bahamas, first as a Cat 3 hurricane, traversing the archipelago from Inagua in the south, through our chain of islands. It landed on Nassau in the early hours of Thursday, October 6, on to North Andros at that strength, intensifying to Category 4 by the time it arrived at Grand Bahama, before targeting the Florida coast.

How did we fare?
Throughout much of the archipelago, residents experienced torrential rains and turbulent gusts in varying degrees that ripped roof tiles, tar paper and shingles from residential and commercial buildings, resulting in extensive water damage to those structures and considerable damage to furniture, and other household and commercial contents.

Residents on New Providence, particularly those on the southern and southwestern coast, were pulverized by this storm. Water levels in those areas were so elevated that nearly 600 persons had to be rescued from their homes. Many of them were warned well in advance to evacuate to hurricane shelters. They did not heed the warnings until the full effects of the hurricane were experienced, by which time it was too late.

Entire communities on North Andros and Grand Bahama fared far less fortunately. Those communities experienced extensive damage, including the demolition of the vegetative landscape and buildings in cataclysmic proportions. On Grand Bahama, it was reported that 1,000 lamp poles were obliterated. The electrical power was so badly compromised on those islands that many consumers will not have electricity restored for a very long time.

It is miraculous that, despite Matthew's fury, there was no loss of life, as in Haiti where it is reported that Matthew killed more than 1,000 souls.

Infrastructural damage
The greatest criticism of the recovery effort was expressed by infuriated residents on New Providence where the power outage was island-wide and prolonged in too many cases. At the time of this writing, it was reported that power had been restored to only 76 percent of consumers.

The performance of Bahamas Power and Light (BPL), the privately managed power production and distribution company and successor of the Bahamas Electricity Corporation, was abysmal. BPL's response left much to be desired. The level of reliable communications regarding the status of reconnection of power was virtually non-existent and thousands of consumers, more than one week later, are still without power.

The criticisms of BPL are legitimate. Bahamians experienced recurrent, daily "black-outs" during the past summer months and the company's incompetence in managing the restoration after the hurricane clearly indicated that BPL was totally unprepared to meet the challenges that resulted from Matthew.

There are three observations that are worth noting about BPL. First, BPL enjoys a monopoly, which means that it is the only power production and distribution source on New Providence and throughout much of the country. There is no competition in this area and consumers are completely and totally at its mercy. In light of its monopolistic position, BPL is not motivated to exceed consumers' expectations.

Secondly, as a private company, many persons wonder whether BPL is driven primarily by its profit motives and therefore less inclined to deploy adequate resources and personnel that are required to restore electricity because of the cost associated with the amount of overtime that it will have to pay its employees.

Third, Bahamians who live here and fully comprehend the challenges posed by hurricanes, until a few months ago, managed BEC. The Bahamian-managed BEC, in previous hurricanes, performed far more admirably than its successor BPL. It is patently clear to most Bahamians that it was a monumental mistake to replace local with foreign management. They simply are not ready for prime time and apparently are unwilling to listen to those with vast experience in dealing with disasters like Matthew.

By contrast, Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) performed admirably during and after the hurricane. For the most part, during the hurricane, telephone service, fixed and cellular, continued to operate. After the hurricane passed, consumers whose service was interrupted were rapidly restored. There are possibly two reasons for this: one, BTC has invested heavily in its infrastructure and was much better poised to meet the challenges presented by Matthew.

Secondly, fully cognizant that competition in telecommunications is imminent by a second, privately owned communications service provider, BTC is driven by its appreciation that, if it does not perform admirably, consumers will have choices. Therefore, BTC must do all that it can to retain its customers. BTC performed admirably during this catastrophe and should be applauded.

Finally, Cable Bahamas, a formerly monopolistic entity like BPL that is just beginning to feel the nip on its heels of competition from BTC's FLOW TV, behaved totally as though that competition was not imminent. It demonstrated its unwillingness to keep Cable Bahamas customers updated about its repair process through its customer call center where those who answered the phones - after customers waited nearly an hour - were as ignorant of repair timelines as those who were calling. Once again, this shows how important proper communication is, especially in times of crisis. One would think a company whose job is communication would know this, but apparently Cable Bahamas does not and will learn, through competition, that it must do better if it wants to keep its customers.

What should we do going forward?
Going forward there are several things that can be done to improve on our responses to hurricanes.

First, a Parliamentary committee should be appointed to conduct public hearings about what steps should be taken to improve our level of preparedness and post-hurricane recovery protocols. This will assist the nation in determining which things worked and which did not. It will inform public policy about what legislative and administrative action should be taken to improve our state of preparedness and ameliorate the restoration routines.

Secondly, we agree with the prime minister that legislation should be enacted to enable the government to issue evacuation orders to persons who are at risk of losing their lives or being injured during such hurricanes.

Third, in the short term, we should undertake a consistently sustained national tree-trimming program to ensure that telecommunication and electricity lines are not easily compromised by trees and their branches that, in a storm, contribute to the interruption of these services.

Finally, fully cognizant that we live in a hurricane corridor, a reality that will always be with us, and also given that the hurricane season lasts six months of the year, in the intermediate and long term we should seriously consider undertaking a massive infrastructural program of radically revamping our telecommunications and electricity delivery system by placing those lines underground.

Conclusion
During Hurricane Matthew, there were noted heroic acts that either saved lives or demonstrated a spirit of service, generosity and compassion for those who were adversely affected by the hurricane.

There is no doubt that in the months ahead, we will recover from this catastrophe as we have in the past. The indomitable spirit of the Bahamian people has always sustained us in challenging times. The devastation that we experienced from Hurricane Matthew will provide yet another opportunity to prove the depth of that indomitable spirit. Hurricane Matthew will also provide us with lessons that will benefit the indomitable spirit of generations to come as they are called upon to battle even greater storms that the future will bring.

o Philip C. Galanis is the managing partner of HLB Galanis and Co., Chartered Accountants, Forensic & Litigation Support Services. He served 15 years in Parliament. Please send your comments to pgalanis@gmail.com.

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