The Director of the Department of Emergency Management (DEM), Kerry Hinds, is calling for young people and members of the disabled community to be placed at the heart of disaster risk management to build a more resilient Barbados.
During her opening address at the District Emergency Organisation (DEO) Conference on Wednesday at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, Hinds stressed that the evolving scale and complexity of disasters demands broader and more inclusive community engagement.
Under the theme Elevating Community Resilience through Disaster Risk Reduction, Hinds said the DEM is placing special emphasis on groups that are too often underrepresented in national planning efforts.
“Engaging youth and disabled individuals is crucial for strengthening community disaster risk management networks,” she said. “By involving these groups, we envisage communities tapping into diverse perspectives, skills and resources, leading to more effective and inclusive disaster preparedness, response, mitigation and recovery efforts.”
She noted that young people, with their adaptability and digital fluency, can play a pivotal role in sharing vital disaster information across modern platforms, making it more accessible to all.
“When we engage the youth, we are investing in our future,” Hinds said. “We’re investing in a generation that can lead and adapt to future challenges.”
Some of the participants of the DEO conference. (SB)
At the same time, the DEM director urged that people with disabilities must not only be considered in disaster response but actively involved in the planning and implementation phases.
She explained, “People with disabilities have unique needs and vulnerabilities—before, during, and after disasters—and their active participation ensures that those needs are addressed. They have unique skills and perspectives which we need to invest in. Engaging people with disabilities ensures that our policies, our plans, our standard operating procedures are inclusive and accessible to all.”
Hinds said the DEM is committed to making all disaster policies, plans, and standard operating procedures inclusive and accessible.
She said, “The future of community disaster risk management networks lies in enhanced collaboration, increased community participation, and the strategic integration of technology and data. Our community networks will be tasked with leveraging technology for all aspects of disaster risk management. That leveraging of technology will assist us in making informed decisions and ensuring that no one, absolutely no one is left behind.”
Hinds, however, acknowledged that the country’s disaster management community is being called upon to do more with less.
“As a disaster management community, we are being asked to deliver more, quicker and with seemingly less resources. One may argue that this is a normal ask, but what we are witnessing from our vantage point is that the scale, complexity, and scope are ever increasing, and the demands and expectations on our system have multiplied tremendously,” she said.
“We deliver on this while concurrently delivering on other aspects of our national programming. Managing with limited funding, operating with staff shortages, and endeavouring to satisfy the growing numbers and needs of stakeholders who require our expertise. Let us today use this opportunity to reset and reimagine disaster risk management,” Hinds added. (SB)
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