Elected Government and Opposition Members of the Anguilla House of Assembly had a rear meeting together at the Parliamentary Building to hear about disaster management on the island.
The meeting, on Friday, August 30, was organised by the Department of Disaster Management. The Government was represented by Chief Minister, Hubert Hughes; Minister of Infrastructure and Communications, Evan Gumbs; Minster of Home Affairs, Jerome Roberts; and Elected Member for West End, Walcott Richardson; The Oppositionwas represented by Leader of the Opposition, Evans Rogers and Othlyn Vanterpool.
Director of the Disaster Management, Ms Melissa Meade, explained the purpose of the meeting. “We are having a presentation to the Legislative Members of the House of Assembly about disaster management, “she told The Anguillian.
“We are telling them what we do, what is expected from the Department; what we have in place; and what is expected from the Legislative Members in the event that something was to happen. The aim is to ensure that they are better able to understand what the island has to offer;what our roles are and what they expect of us.”
Ms Meade said the meeting was also to inform the legislators about the Department’s financial needs – its heavy reliance on donor funding for projects and the impact on the functioning of the Department.
She observed that there was a need for four Programme Officers instead of the current three – as well as a Deputy Director in order for the Department to function more efficiently.She also stated that there was a need to undertake a more in-depth public education programme to achieve a greater awareness of disaster management and how the public should react in any disastrous event.
“This is hampered by a lack of funding,” she continued. “We would also like to have a more robust warning system. We became the first country to become tsunami ready, but we have no sirens in place to alert persons. We try different means, but we think this is an important facet. We need to actually propel that aspect of warning in Anguilla. That is one of the things we want to see.”
