PM Briceño Joins NEMO On Flyover in Toledo

The National Emergency Management Organization activated its operations last Thursday in Toledo District. Since then, NEMO has been partnering with Belize Defense Force soldiers to deploy aid and assist residents in putting out fires. According to NEMO officials, teams are being deployed to various communities on a regular basis. By their account, firefighting efforts run past midnight most days. NEMO’s National Coordinator Daniel Mendez and Oscar Requena, the Area Representative for Toledo West, held a press conference this morning in Machaca to provide an update on the efforts. There, Requena announced that Prime Minister John Briceno would be joining them on a flyover of the affected areas this afternoon.

 

Oscar Requena , Area Representative, Toledo West

“Right now it is really to get on the ground to see first hand what is happening to get a thorough assessment and evaluation and really to quantify the damage so as to be able to put together in place a plan to address the needs both short term and long term. Today the Prime Minister is going myself, Minister Perez, along with captain Mendez and other fire experts and NEMO personnel to get a first hand view of what the situation looks like, because as you are aware the Prime Minister was out of the country I believe he came in yesterday. So certainly we are all working together, all the Government agencies and even our partners and stakeholders are working together so that we can respond adequately to the situation on the ground. Fire continues to be a major problem every year in the Toledo District. I think this year has been the worst we have ever seen and certainly moving  forward we need to find a way to put in place a very viable plan. A community based plan together with the Government agencies and all stakeholders to ensure that as much as possible this kind to occurrence is mitigated as much as possible.”