Public officers who served during Dean honoured
It occurred so early in the season that Hurricane Dean seems like a long time ago. But the intervening months have not diminished the gratitude felt for those who helped pick up the pieces. Today government recognised some of those public officers who rose to the occasion.
Kendra Griffith, Reporting
The men and women in this room represent some of the first responders after the passage of Hurricane Dean.
Kathleen Pate, Public Officer
“It was something totally different, with all their problems and plus all their problems of not having a home, getting wet and all that, it was different. Difficult and different from what we deal with daily.”
Kathleen Pate, who works at the Women’s Department in Corozal, was one of a hundred and fifty public officers who were assigned to NEMO’s Relief and Supplies Management Committee.
Kathleen Pate
“We coordinated through that all the distribution of food, materials and whatever had to be distributed. … It was a disaster in reality because when we went out and saw what happened to the houses and the damage that was done, we did have to have this heart and this dedication and energy to really meet the response of what people needed from us.”
C.E.O. in the Ministry of Human Development Anita Zetina is Chair of the supplies committee.
Anita Zetina, Chair, Relief and Supplies Mgmt. Committee
“Our committee is responsible for, in particular food procurement, storage and distribution in times of disasters. … We got them through the office of the Service Commission, they nominated people to work along with our committee and then great bulk of the public officers are from the Human Development.”
Tanya Gentle, Public Officer
“I was in the cayes.”
Kendra Griffith
“What are some of the things you did?”
Tanya Gentle
“We went house to house and we gathered information as to what actually was the effect on the people living the cayes. There wasn’t a lot of damages, but there were a few and those people who needed food, we actually assisted in the issuing of food.”
Victoria Hernandez, Public Officer
“It was a very good experience for us working from early in the morning up until the night. It was hard, but we did it.”
And whether they did it for days or weeks, this morning the public officers were recognised in a short ceremony where they received certificates of appreciation.
Victor Recinos, Public Officer
“It is not always that organisations show appreciation to the little people in the field who do all the hard work.”
Anita Zetina
“We know it is difficult to respond to disasters, particularly when it is not in your area where you live and you have to move for a number of days. We had cycles of every week change shift with officers and so we felt that the people who worked in the first two weeks when the conditions were the worst and they took the challenge to work with us, we felt that it was our responsibility to recognise them.”
Kendra Griffith
“It is something that you would do again?”
Victoria Hernandez
“Yes. Most of all I would do it as many times as God spare my life.”
And because there is an absolute probability that another disaster will strike Belize in the future, Zetina says there are plans in the works to improve the committee’s response, such as training in disaster awareness and stress management.
Anita Zetina
“We are also recommending to the Governance Unit who is responsible for training that all public officers go through some time of orientation as they do for the regular public service, for them to be aware of what it is to work in a disaster so that we will all do a better job.”
During this morning’s ceremony several organisations were also awarded certificates. Kendra Griffith reporting for News Five.
Those public officers represent only a small number of the hundreds and possibly thousands of volunteers who assisted in the recovery efforts through various organisations and committees. According to NEMO, they wrapped up the major part of their operations in mid-November and are currently conducting an assessment of reconstruction needs. This afternoon Director General of the Belize Red Cross, Lily Bowman, told News Five that the organisation maintains a presence in the affected areas, building houses, distributing bed nets, treating water and conducting training sessions on water sanitation.
