School children and many adults may have gained a considerable amount of useful information from the 4th Annual All Hazard Risk Reduction and Safety Fair.
The event, which had as its theme “Safer Practices Equals Safer Lives”, was held on the grounds of the Department of Agriculture on Friday, June 15.
The fair comprised various risk reduction and safety services including the following: disaster preparedness information; hurricane shutters and other protective equipment; insurance protection; telecommunications; fire and rescue services; health services; water services; environmental awareness; drugs protection education (provided by the Police under the D.A.R.E. programme in schools); as well as other community services provided by a number of non-profit organisations.
“Safety is everybody’s business”, Chairman of the Essential Services Sub-committee of the Disaster Management Committee, Bancroft Battick, said at the opening ceremony. “We all are required to take responsibility for safe practices to ensure that, as we go from day to day, our environment is safe and the things we do are done in a safe manner.”
He was pleased that the Essential Services Sub-committee, under the umbrella of the National Disaster Management Committee, was responsible for the safety fair which, he said, was growing each year. He was particularly delighted that it had attracted a large number of children from various schools.
Mr.Battick also spoke in his capacity as Acting Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Infrastructure, and as Chief Engineer, (his substantive post) with responsibility for roads and other engineering matters.
He urged the children, in particular, to observe the many services at the risk reduction and safety fair and to ensure that their parents practiced safe measures at home and on the road. He said one of the practices children should advise their parents against was the use of cellular phones while driving on the roads.
The welcome remarks were delivered by Nurse Serene Carter-Davis, the 2011 Risk Reduction Award Winner. She pointed out that while disasters were part of life, there were certain steps that persons could take to reduce their effects and save lives.
“Activities to prevent disasters and mitigate their effects should be understood and practiced at all levels of society to keep impact to a minimum,” she stressed. “The comprehensive disaster management approach to risk reduction taken by the Department for Disaster Management, and the Essential Services, is to strengthen community safety and resilience. The more resilient a community is, the better able it is to adapt when a disaster occurs.”
Nurse Carter-Davis pointed out that disaster preparedness and risk reduction were not only the responsibility of the Government and the Department of the Disaster Management, but the people of Anguilla as a whole.
“It is for this reason that we must ensure that citizens are provided with the necessary information, education and training to make effective safe and wise decisions,” she added.
Deputy Governor, Stanley Reid, who has responsibility for disaster preparedness, said the theme of their fair offered another opportunity to continue to broaden the awareness of the people, of the island, about the different safety hazards and the mitigation and preventive measures that could be taken in relation to them.
“At this time, in Anguilla, we are very conscious that it is only through our collective efforts that our individual and general safety can be achieved,” Mr. Reid continued. “Your efforts to ensure that you remove all lose debris from around your property, so as to eliminate any potential flying objects during the hurricane, will be to little avail if your neighbours fail to take the same precaution. Their failures can result in damage to you.
“If we collectively seek to implement the mitigation measures shared with us, hopefully we will be, and feel, safer. I would think that if we spend more time engaging in mitigation and preventive measures we should have to spend less time engaging in recovery measures. This would ensure that interruptions in our everyday activities are short lived.”
The Deputy Governor recognised all the participants and sponsors who came together to ensure the success of the fair. “We appreciate your participation and sponsorship and look forward to your continued support in the coming years,” he added.
Commissioner of Police, Rudolph Proctor, was pleased that the event had attracted so many persons to be part of the important initiative of reducing risks and ensuring safety.“It is important for all of us to know that the basic steps in protecting ourselves start with us, to ensure that our environment, work places and ourselves are all secured,” he emphasised. “It is better to be safety conscious than unsafe…Safety can distinguish you. Lack of safety can extinguish you.”
Mr Proctor, who is also Anguilla’s Traffic Commissioner, went on: “The Vehicle and Road Traffic Committee has recognised that there are some areas in our community, especially as it relates to road traffic need, tightening up. In the amending legislation that is coming on stream soon, we have looked at seat-belts and cellular phones to make sure that persons are safe.
“We see, on our roads today, people texting as they drive – driving at very high speeds without seat belts and without safety seats for children. These practices are addressed and covered by that legislation.”
The Commissioner commended all who planned and organised the event for their hard work – the sponsors, participating agencies, vendors and others for their involvement.
The platinum sponsor was Digicel; gold sponsors: The Anguilla Electricity Company and Alliance Insurance Company Ltd; Silver sponsors: Sol; Lime; Caribbean Cable Communications and Malliouhana Insurance Co; Bronze sponsors: Delta Petroleum; Anguilla Aluminum; D-3 Enterprises; and National Caribbean Insurance.
The supporting donors were Scotia Bank –Anguilla, Albert’s Supermarket; Ashley Sons & Daughters; and Aronel Water.
