CEMO Meets to Discuss Natural Disasters  

The National Emergency Management Organization often meets around this of year for a disaster communication workshop as part of its preparations for the upcoming hurricane season. But with climate change and forest fires having so much impact on the environment, the City Emergency Management Organization included all these occurrences in the discussions. Today’s workshop had the participation of all the relevant departments that would be first responders in the event of a natural disaster. Because Belize City is low-lying, flooding and erosion are primary topics. News Five’s Marion Ali was present for the early part of the workshop and filed this report.

 

Marion Ali, Reporting

This morning, teams from various government departments met with personnel from the Belize City Council for a workshop to streamline their communication capacity to better respond to natural disasters. Minister of Disaster Risk Management, Andre Perez pointed out that because the world is under constant threat due to climate change, the discussions can no longer be centered on hurricane preparedness.

 

Andre Perez, Minister of Disaster Risk Management

“It’s no longer June to November. We’re talking about not only storms now, we have the serious threat of fire. Climate change is real and rising sea level, erosion, everything is affecting this city, which is the hub, the economic hub of the entire country. So it’s crucial, and we have that focused and organize leaders as it relates to NEMO to be prepared. It’s always about preparedness as we enter into the hurricane season. And today’s session invited all the relevant departments to conduct a session to see where we can work together in terms of when storms come around or when we have the threats of other potential dangers that come to the city.”

 

CEMO Liaison Officer, Melanie Dawson says today’s session was key because having optimum communication among a working group of first responders can spell the difference between a good and bad outcome.

 

Melanie Dawson, CEMO Liaison Officer, Belize City Council

“This is our preparation phase at this point right now, so basically we are in preparation of getting our internal staff and our stakeholders ready. And this time we took a different approach and we are working on our communication line within the E.O.C. So we want to ensure that we enhance our communication patterns within the E.O.C. This way we can execute our roles and responsibilities in a more effective and efficient way for the residents within the city.”

 

 

 

Communication capacity aside, does the Belize City Council and its partners have the wherewithal to respond in a timely fashion to the needs of a rapidly expanding municipality should a hurricane or tsunami render the population in need?

 

Melanie Dawson

“This is why we collaborate with other stakeholders when it comes to resources. This is where we extend and we work in collaboration to get resources that we need. Within a tsunami plan, all of these components are being included in it. Right now at this point we are working along, with Captain Daniel Mendez to finish a plan that we actually had started for Belize City.”

 

Dawson says that when the plan is completed it will be shared with the public. Marion Ali for News Five.