NEMO officials get hurricane preparedness training

‘Tis the season for hurricane preparedness. With the season well underway, two trainers from the U.S.A.I.D. Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance in Dominica are here on initial damage assessment and needs analysis. They are here to train a total of thirty-five personnel from the National Emergency Management Organization, related Ministries and non-government organizations, the basics when making assessments after disasters. And while it may sound like an easy task, trainer Cecil Shillingford says it is really a comprehensive exercise.

Cecil Shillingford, Consultant, U.S.A.I.D.
“You look at the damage. First of all, you’ll want to identify buildings that are damaged. You’d also want to look at the social aspect in terms of family structure and what are the needs of the family coming out of the disaster situation. Then you would also have persons who would do various sector assessments which would include your tourism sector—what has happened to hotels and other tourism sites. You’d want persons maybe out of your public works department to look at the road infrastructure, bridges, and things of that nature. You’d want your health sector to look at hospitals and clinics and things of that nature. Your education sector would be looking at the schools. So, it is pretty much a group of persons from various sectors that would come together to make that assessment.”

The training is one of a series being conducted this year and Shillingford says that future sessions will be undertaken by these local personnel. The current course ends on Friday.