On September 1, 1923, a magnitude 7.9 earthquake, known as the Great Kanto Earthquake, struck the cities of Tokyo and Yokohama in Japan. A combination of the destruction, ashes from out-of-control fires and a rumor that North Koreans were looting resulted in the deaths of more than 140,000 people. Following upon that earthquake, Japan rebuilt with great care. In 1995, another massive earthquake struck Japan, in the city of Kobe. I was there for what was called The Great Kobe Earthquake. It killed more than 4,000 people in an area only a short drive from the Japan International Centre for Cooperation, where I was studying investment promotion. Japan once again rebuilt after the earthquake. Japan is one of the most earthquake prone areas on the planet, and with each passing earthquake it developed expertise that has made it a leader in disaster preparedness.
Hurricanes are an annual feature of life in the Caribbean and The Bahamas; so much so that we actually have an official season for them that runs from June 30 to November 30. Our region's history is replete with incidences of their landing. It seems that they come now with greater frequency and intensity. Our northern neighbor, the USA, is also subject to nature's way, especially on the southwestern and eastern coast, as Hurricanes David, Andrew, Wilma, Sandy, Harvey and Irma have shown.
For decades our region has been pounded by these fierce acts of nature, suffering as we do their toll in life and property. I say, like Japan, it is high time we, The Commonwealth of The Bahamas, begin a campaign to become masters of these disasters. In preparedness, responsiveness and recovery, I say we make the investment necessary to become as expert at dealing with hurricanes, and other possible disasters, as we possibly can. We should do so to save lives both at home and abroad; and give ourselves an added value, regionally and across the globe.
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) should be upgraded, in terms of personnel, facilities and mandate to become an elite hurricane response entity in the world. We should find our finest minds at home in this area, have them collaborate with those abroad, and build the most hurricane-ready nation and response machinery the world has ever seen. One thing we know is that over the years to come, it seems, we will have more than enough practice in this area, and as the saying goes, "practice makes perfect". As Hurricane Wilma was a wake-up call for Florida, Sandy was for New York and Katrina was for New Orleans, let us let Irma be for us. Irma did not exact all her fury on us, but she gave us enough to wake the hell up. Let's let Irma give us a new sense of collective urgency, at least in this one area for now; an urgency that could prove existential in nature someday.
It is not good enough for us to breathe a collective sigh of relief that most of our islands did not see the level of destruction we thought a Category 5 storm might bring, and to praise God that he "blessed" us and levelled all those others who "fail to pray as we do". Look at Ragged Island. It is in our chain of islands. Look at it! See what is possible by nature's workings. It could easily have been New Providence, Grand Bahama, Abaco, etc. One day, it could be. However, if we master these potential disasters, we might be able to reduce the level of loss and destruction they bring.
We cannot master the storms themselves; they are nature's doings, far beyond our control, no matter what the conspiracy theorists say. I have little doubt that our activities are having an effect on the planet and its climate, and may be encouraging the rate and intensity of these storms. Still, we cannot control them. What we can do is be more ready for their coming; more resilient in the wake of their landings; and more efficient in recovering from their impact. We can harden our infrastructure more (electrical, telecommunications, cable, transportation, building, etc.). We can create proactive evacuation programs. We can train thousands of workers in the civil service, now in the employ of the government to be first responders, emergency relief workers, centre managers and support teams, etc. We can develop shelters that are rock-solid and able to endure the fiercest of storms. We can place future orders on a certain quantity of essentials for recovery following a storm. We can modernize our legislation to equip the government with the authority to effect mandatory evacuation orders and the like. We can make arrangements with banks to ensure that the government's cash flow following a storms passing does not inhibit responsiveness to the needs of our citizens. These are in no way expert offerings, or exhaustive, but they are thoughts toward the exercise I surely believe we should undertake, that is, becoming masters of these disasters that seem to be staples in our annual way of life.
With sufficient expertise in responding to these events, it is possible that, in the future, rather than calling on others to help us, we might be the ones called upon to help others. Besides being a practical value for us as a nation, it would be a point of pride for us as occupants of the global community. Imagine that, The Commonwealth of The Bahamas, the best hurricane response managers in the Americas, and perhaps the world. I like the sound of that, even if I don't like the sound of hurricanes.
o Zhivargo Laing is a Bahamian economic consultant and former Cabinet minister who represented the Marco City constituency in the House of Assembly.
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