Montserrat tests ability of emergency response agencies
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| Published on Saturday, July 12, 2008 |
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By Karen ‘Lioness’ Allen
Caribbean Net News Montserrat Correspondent
Email: karen@caribbeannetnews.com
BRADES, Montserrat: Montserrat has successfully concluded a disaster management exercise designed to test the ability of the country’s emergency response agencies.
According to the island’s Disaster Management Coordination Agency (DMCA), “a full scale disaster management exercise to test the ability of the country’s response agencies to cope with any major incident” was just concluded.
The DMCA says that the scenario included “a major hurricane impacting Montserrat.” The exercise lasted four days and involved all response agencies on island.
Keith Dyett reports that elements from the Royal Navy participated in the exercise. Unconfirmed reports say that Prince William was on board the Royal Navy’s vessel while it docked in Montserrat’s tranquil harbour.
The DMCA reports that the exercise sought to test the supporting systems, mechanisms, and procedures that currently exist between the islands; regional; and international partners.
Montserrat’s DMCA says that the objectives of the exercise were, initially, to test the “disaster management command elements and control systems”. Another objective included a test of the effectiveness of the communication systems on Montserrat, “both inner and intra systems”. Yet another objective tested the activation procedures for the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC).
One objective was an evaluation of the “effectiveness of the decision making process at all levels in the EOC. Further objectives included a test of the “emergency plans of various agencies”, namely a hurricane and volcanic; a training mechanism for disaster management responders; a test of the regional response mechanism; an opportunity “to test the regional response mechanism”; a venue to test and “strengthen the networking among national, regional, and international agencies”; and another opportunity to “evaluate the state of the runway at Bramble Airport”.
The disaster management exercise began with a public address on ZJB Radio by the Governor of Montserrat, Peter Waterworth. The radio address said, “…the Governor, Mr. Peter Waterworth, convened a meeting of the National Disaster Preparedness Response Agency Advisory Council (NPRAC) on Friday, 4 July 2008 in response to information from the acting Director of the DMCA, Mr James White Jr., stating that the plotted couse of Hurrican Charlie has formed in the Caribbean and could pose a direct threat to Montserrat.”
Another radio address by Waterworth reported on the resulting damage of the hurricane, “Hurricane Charlie has caused some damage to the island but the situation is relatively calm, and damage assessment teams have been dispatched to all areas of the island, to observe the extent of the damage caused by the hurricane.”
The next radio address continued, “The British frigate, HMS Iron Duke has entered Montserrat’s waters and is lending assistance to the island with a team on hand to coordinate activities with local authorities.”
When it was all over, there were no reported deaths. The island’s only hospital remained in tact. Other buildings that excaped the damage of the category 5 hurricane included the Warden Shelter housing, yet to be built, and the police compounds.
The results of Montserrat’s disaster management exercise revealed that its only radio station continued broadcasting in spite of the implications of the emergency; the country could sustain itself for one week; and there will be a supply of one million gallons of water available in storage. | | | | Reads : 218 |
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