Red Cross improves disaster capabilities

The Belize Red Cross Society in conjunction with the National Emergency Management Organisation, has organized a Damage Assessment and Needs workshop in order to better coordinate relief work after a disaster. According to Audrey Courtenay, Chairperson, of the Disaster Management Committee, the week long programme is geared to make people understand the urgency required to look after people in affected areas.

Audrey Courtenay, Chair, Disaster Management Committee

“They’re reviewing the experiences of the management of our response capabilities and all the strengths and weaknesses. Along with that now we are trying to improve on the process of damage assessment and analyzing the needs and being able to produce an accurate report.”

Shelton Defour, Workshop Co-Organizer

“It is definitely a workshop that is needed. There is direct connectivity between the damage assessment and the needs analysis of component of disaster management. The students have now recognised that without doing a proper disaster assessment, we cannot do needs analysis to identify the needs of those people who were affected and the community needs.”

Jose Sanchez

“How was the assessment done for Hurricane Keith?”

Shelton Defour

“It was pretty well. We did the initial simulation assessment within eight hours, followed by the detailed damage assessment within two to three weeks. I must say that the information collected was as accurate as we could have gotten it. But based on these training now that we are having, we will see some improvements definitely for this hurricane season and for the future.”

Defour reminds the public that on March nineteenth and twentieth, the National Hurricane Preparedness Exercise will be conducted.