By S3S
As noted in Part I, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) manages and coordinates disaster preparedness on a national scale and appears to be doing some things right. Nonetheless, there may be ways in which we could improve our overall disaster planning efforts through decentralisation, thinking more widely about the natural threats that may face us, planning year-round (rather than during the hurricane season) and ensuring that disaster (and recovery) planning plays a more prominent role in our nation’s psyche.
First, like everything else we do in The Bahamas, our coordination efforts are totally centralised in the Capital. Whilst it is desirable to centralise certain aspects of disaster planning such as decision-making, due to co-location with the seat of government, our geography does not lend itself to total centralisation. This is mainly because of the infrastructural damage caused by storms which makes it difficult or impossible to transport relief supplies to the ‘outer islands’ after passage. This hampers recovery efforts, so moving relief supplies to hurricane ‘hotspots’ before the storm would eliminate the hassles of transport when transport is compromised.
Second, we have focused exclusively on one type of natural disaster (tropical cyclones/hurricanes), so all resources and knowledge gathering efforts are geared toward tropical storms. As the world’s climate evolves, we can expect changes in our natural events in future, for example, more frequent tornadoes. Of potentially more concern, is our position with regards to the North American and Caribbean Plates (see below) and the likelihood of earthquakes (or more likely, the after effects of earthquakes in neighbouring countries). Why should the country be immune to the possibility of quakes, generally, or indeed tidal waves? In Jan-2011 the effects of the Haiti ‘quake were felt strongly in Inagua, a short distance away.
[1]
In consideration of Atlantis, a major civilization that allegedly disappeared completely into the sea more than 10,000 years ago, Robert Ballard, acclaimed Ocean explorer, said “the legend of Atlantis is a logical one since cataclysmic floods and volcanic explosions have happened throughout history …”[2]. I am not suggesting that we ought to lapse into ‘the world’s going to end’ mode but we should expand our thinking on other disaster possibilities, no matter how remote the probability.
[3]
If we look at the abpve seismic hazard map, which “depicts Peak Ground Acceleration (PGA) with a 10% chance of exceedance in 50 years” we could infer that more than a minor possibility exists. This particular seismic hazard map of North and Central America and the Caribbean “depicts the likely level of short-period ground motion from earthquakes in a fifty-year window”. 
Third, our ‘disaster planning’ seems to kick into gear in Nassau during the few months prior to the hurricane season (01-June to 30-November) and focus on the Capital, when clearly, it would benefit from year-round education, training and awareness campaigns on all islands.
Finally, ‘disaster planning’ should maintain a more prominent position in our nation’s psyche, which could start by encompassing a wider scope of public activities and events and consider all of the following:
A dedicated national weather/emergency radio station to broadcast information on an ongoing basis between event seasons and do so frequently and comprehensively during natural events.
Education and training programmes should be ongoing to ensure that we are always conscious of the dangers that may visit us and how we might mitigate them.
Adequate collection and ‘pre-distribution’ of relief supplies (food, building supplies, mobile generators, etc) must be strategically stored around the country before storms arrive in designated 'hurricane supplies depots'.
Notwithstanding the above, we must improve our capability to transport relief supplies (after passage of a storm, once we know where the storms have actually hit).
Effective water management is needed to ensure that adequate potable water is available or at least, accessible, when needed.
Teams of emergency personnel comprised of RBDF personnel, RBPF personnel and local volunteers on each island are required on a 'matrix structure' basis. Personnel should be ready for immediate deployment and mobilization after passage of a storm.
Improved national and local coordination (centrally controlled from Nassau) but based on a national network of satellite phones on all major islands (apparently in limited use at the moment).
Last but by no means least, and dare I say it, Government intervention in the market (a clear ‘exception to the rule’), to stop the greed of a few suppliers from ‘price gouging’ or preying on the misery of others, who, through no fault of their own, find themselves without food, water, shelter or just under-resourced. The 'flip side' to this is to make available funds to aid recovery in the hardest hit areas (possibly through a 'national disaster insurance', paid for by all stakeholders in the country).
The eight steps outlined above above should build on current disaster planning efforts and strengthen our capabilities to deal with natural disasters and other ‘Acts of God’ that may visit upon us from time to time. Our recovery from these events has been woeful; it is shameful to see properties lying damaged 5 years after the storm.
© S3S
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