Today, Belize took a significant step in disaster preparedness by hosting the first national consultative workshop for the UN’s Early Warnings for All Initiative. Launched in 2022, this global project aims to ensure everyone, especially the most vulnerable, has access to early warnings for natural disasters. The workshop, organized by the National Emergency Management Organization (NEMO) and the National Meteorological Service, focused on fostering collaboration and driving national ownership of the project’s action plan. The UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction conducted a gap analysis to identify the program’s strengths and areas needing improvement. Daniel Mendez, National Emergency Coordinator at NEMO, provided further insights into the initiative’s progress and goals.
Daniel Mendez, National Emergency Coordinator, NEMO
“So this first event is looking at the Early Warning for All Initiative, which is an initiative by the United Nations General Secretary. And the idea behind this is for us as a system to be able to provide early warning for all hazards for all people. So we are doing our part in implementing that in Belize. So we are looking at ways. How we can look at all hazards, multi hazards, not only hurricanes, but fires, floods, everything and have the ability to reach every single person in Belize and provide them enough for warning so they can make educated decisions.”
Britney Gordon
“What kind of systems are being implemented through this initiative, then in order to get those warnings early?”
Daniel Mendez
“Okay, so this is called a system of systems. So there are already systems existing among all our partners, so the Ministry of Health already has a system where they send out the risk information, the Ministry of Agriculture and so on. But it’s how can we as a system combine all of these in order for us to be able to coordinate and to provide that information to people and give them enough time. So it it’s a really a way of how we can collaborate as it’s a system of collaboration so we can make sure that we don’t miss anything.”