Hurricane Gonzalo showed us last October how emergency situations can intensify rapidly, and with little warning. Being prepared well in advance is important to staying safe during the storm, but also to bouncing-back from its effects afterwards. As we approach the official start of the 2015 Hurricane Season on 1 June, I would like to take this opportunity to remind everyone to ensure their families, homes and businesses are prepared.
Everyone can be involved in improved emergency preparedness, so that Anguilla as a whole is more resilient and can recover quickly. Children can help to prepare a Hurricane Kit, which should include for example, water, dry foods, batteries, flashlights, and first-aid materials. Government departments should exercise their emergency plans. Businesses can ensure they too have effective response plans. Those companies who do – and who have staff that have also made the necessary preparations in their own homes – will recover more quickly and with less economic impact on the business, and may even gain themselves competitive advantage.
It is my hope that official predictions of a quiet season will prove to be correct. These are, of course, calculations based on averages for the entire region. Anguilla remains as vulnerable to tropical storms, flooding, storm-surges and hurricanes in this year as in any other. The safety and quality of life in Anguilla is important to us all, and we can all help to ensure we are prepared.
Hurricane Gonzalo really was a good reminder of the forces of nature. The transition from hurricane force winds to the moments during which the eye passed over our island was an experience I am sure many of us will never forget. Let us use those memories now to ensure we are better prepared for when the next hurricane strikes.
