With the terrible experience of the extensive damage to the island by Hurricane Irma, the Anguilla Red Cross, now under new management, is well-positioned to oversee and handle disaster relief efforts on the island – working in cooperation with other agencies.
This emerged from an interview The Anguillian newspaper had with the recently-appointed Director of the Anguilla Red Cross, Mr. Marius Nusca, on Tuesday, May 7. He is a very experience paramedic having served in various countries around the world.
“I was born in Romania but I lived for many years in Italy, and then in the past eight years I lived in France,” he told the newspaper, replying to a question about his background. “I have a medical background. I am an expert in humanitarian emergency and have worked in that area for fifteen years on all the continents. I worked in conflict and war areas, natural disasters, epidemics and outbreaks. I used to work in Africa, Asia, Europe and South America. The Anguilla Red Cross published the position for a Director. I decided to apply and passed the normal recruitment process.”
He continued: “Anguilla is a very interesting area because I was impressed by Hurricane Irma, and its consequences, and I thought that my experience and skills could help. The Anguilla Red Cross Board decided that I am the right person. I arrived in Anguilla in August 2018, after Irma. My stay here will be one more year.”
Questioned about the functioning of the disaster relief organisation, Mr. Musca replied:
“The Anguilla Red Cross has one big mandate. It is to serve the Anguilla population. It is to save lives; give dignity to people; and to protect the vulnerable. We have two big approaches to do so. One is emergency – and we are preparing ourselves to be ready anytime if there is another situation in Anguilla like a natural disaster or anything else. We have a skilled staff; everyone is trained. We have procedures, protocols and policies and the means.
“We have a big stock of basic necessary items that we can distribute to the population – after a natural disaster – including what we call ‘cash transfer’. We give cash to the people who lost their houses, and goods, thus giving them the possibility to recover. The Anguilla Red Cross is part of the national mechanism of response, and an auxiliary of the Government of Anguilla; and we are here to respond to any emergency that occurs. We hope that it will be not necessary for us to intervene but if needs be… we will be prepared.”
Asked about the source of the supplies at the Anguilla Red Cross, Mr. Musca stated:
“The supplies are coming from different places through the Red Cross network – from Panama, London and elsewhere. We have from hygiene kits to kitchen sets; kits with everything to repair houses; mosquito nets; beds; buckets; solar lanterns which are very important if there is no electricity; and other supplies. All of these are already on the island and this is our way to be prepared if something happens.”
