Grenada Today - The National Newspaper of Grenada, Carriacou & Petite Martinique

With three weeks to go before the official start of the 2005 Hurricane Season and approximately 75% of the houses on the island yet to be repaired as a result of damage caused by the passage of hurricane Ivan last year, there is not good news coming out from the National Disaster Management Agency (NaDMA) as it relates to shelters in the country.

NaDMA officials have said that it is unable to meet the demands for shelters in the event that another major disaster strikes Grenada. The disclosure was made by National Disaster Co-ordinator Sylvan Mc. Intyre on Monday at a news conference held at NaDMA's headquarters at Richmond Hill in St. George's.

Meteorologists are predicting a very active hurricane season this year. They say that there will be 13 systems, 7 of them could develop into hurricanes, with 3 likely to turn out into major storms. The passage of hurricane Ivan last year left about 90% of the houses on the island affected.

Mc. Intyre told reporters that the shortage of shelters existed even before Ivan and that the passage of the hurricane last year has compounded the problem. He urged citizens to be their brother's keeper in the event of a disaster. Asked by a GRENADA TODAY reporter whether the Agency would consider using private homes as shelters.

Mc. Intyre responded by saying that NaDMA will consider the suggestion and that interested private home owners can contact the Agency so that some form of arrangement can be made. NaDMA is presently conducting a series of inspections with assistance from the Agency for Reconstruction and Development (ARD) on a number of public buildings that were used last September as shelters. Mc. Intyre disclosed that, so far 42 buildings were inspected and that ARD Engineers are expected to submit their report within a one month period.

The Disaster Co-ordinator stated that 35 persons are presently trained in shelter management and that they will be conducting another exercise within a month to bring shelter managers up to speed with the standards required for manning a facility. Mc. Intyre pointed out that the Agency is also looking at establishing micro-emergency shelters around the island.

He stressed out that a major problem that existed in the country after Ivan was the failure of the communication networks to remain on-air for the dissemination of information.

TheNaDMA boss disclosed that so far the Agency met with all of the major communication providers on the island with the aim of getting them to come up with an emergency plan in the event a disaster occurs.

Community Specialist with NaDMA, Velda Joseph said that the Agency has been holding a series of public consultations within the communities to get feedback on what went wrong after Ivan in order to put structures in place to negate future occurances

She indicated that NaDMA held 22 consultations around the country and has put in place five district committees as part of the overall plan to have 16 of them fully installed and to undergo training by May 20. According to Joseph, the response from the public has been encouraging and that they have been getting a number of positive suggestions on the way forward for disaster management in the country.