Barbadians are being urged to abandon complacency and take personal responsibility for hurricane preparedness, as an emergency management expert warns that even a below-average season can bring devastating impacts.
“It only takes one [hurricane],” said Selwyn Brooks, a consultant with the Department of Emergency Management (DEM).
With forecasters predicting a below-average hurricane season with eight to 14 named storms and one to three expected to reach category three or higher, he suggested that now was not the time to be lax in hurricane preparedness.
He said: “We have too high a level of complacency in Barbados. You hear: ‘Man you mek me buy de tings and nutten ain’t happen. You mek me go and trim this and clear this and nutten ain’t happen.’ Ladies and gentlemen, it is better to be prepared and nothing don’t happen, than not be prepared, and something happens, because when you buy your emergency supplies, they are not going to spoil. The day will come. It is not a matter of if Barbados will be impacted by a system, but a matter of when.”
Brooks stressed that citizens must change the mindset that hurricane preparedness was the responsibility of the government or the Department of Emergency Management, and take responsibility before a weather system’s arrival, including making their homes more resilient and dealing with possible risks by clearing drains and trimming trees.
He continued: “There was a lady who lived at the bottom of a hill who complained that during rainfall, the well in front of her house would flood. I asked her if she knew why and her response was that plastic bags, grass cuttings and other debris would block the drains. I asked her if she ever considered coming out of her home and clearing the drain. Her response was ‘That’s not my job. Call the MP’.
“The point I am making is that in many cases we contribute to the flooding, so we must consider shared responsibility and get the community involved. So now is the time to look around your home and see what can cause a problem and see how you can minimize it.”
He told a DEM meeting at the Ebenezer Seventh-day Adventist Church in Eden Lodge it was important that householders paid insurance for both house and contents.
“Don’t insure the house in just one policy. Insure the structure and insure the contents because if something happens like fire and the structure has not been damaged you are not going to get any coverage,” he said, noting that people should update their coverage as they acquire additional contents.
Brooks also urged owners of chattel houses to insure their properties, pointing out that insurance companies offered products for the timber structures:
“Too many people here in Barbados still struggle with the fact that their chattel houses are not insured because they do not understand that you can go to insurance companies now and pay monthly. The insurance companies have recognised that they want to stay in business so they have made insurance premiums a little more affordable in terms of how easy you can pay.
“All you have to do is ensure that your foundation is enclosed and the average chattel house can have insurance.”
Pointing to the devastation wrought on regional countries by hurricanes in recent years, including Jamaica, Dominica and Grenada, he urged Barbadians to take heed, especially in light of the impact of Hurricane Beryl on the fishing fleet to the tune of millions of dollars in damages.
(JB)
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