NEMO steps up disaster plans

From June to September every year, Belizeans get a little tense and carefully monitor the weather channel. But for the rest of the year, most of us could care less. But this time around things are different. Since December, the National Emergency Management Organization (NEMO) has been concentrating on making preparations for the season. Deputy Coordinator for NEMO, Earl Arthurs, says despite our limited resources, we’ll be able to weather the storms.

Earl Arthurs, Deputy Coordinator, NEMO

“We are a ways off but there is a plan and it will take a couple years to get the plan completed. What we’re doing is going from district to district to access the retrofitting project and to ensure that everything is on target.”

Janelle Chanona, Reporting

Q: Now you say a couple years we’ll be ready. What if a hurricane comes this year? Will Belize be able to handle that disaster?

Earl Arthurs, Deputy Coordinator, NEMO

“Well, put it this way. Every year we are being more prepared. You’ll never be fully prepared. Disaster preparedness is an ongoing thing. And so we’re a lot better off than when Mitch came and we’re a lot better off than last year and I think next year we’re going to be better off than this year but we’ve got to work. It’s not something that you just take the money and spend it one year and just get everything. You have to plan it properly and manage it properly.”

According to Arthurs, the organization is trying to compile estimates of what it would cost to replace basic physical infrastructures, like bridges, highways and the utilities. Arthurs says in the event of mass destruction, Belize would need to have these figures handy when applying for foreign aid. To give NEMO some practice in handling a disaster, Belizean representatives will travel to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic to participate in the Allied Forces Humanitarian Exercise on the thirteenth. The participants will set up and take over an emergency operation center.