EMERGENCY OFFICIALS DISCUSS BELIZE’S VULNERABILTY TO NATURAL DISASTERS

Countries within the Caribbean and Central America like other parts of the world are being affected severely by climate change. Natural disasters that were once specific to certain countries the way hurricanes are to Belize have broadened their reach as a result of this growing phenomenon. Realizing the need for disaster preparedness and mitigation on several fronts the Government of Belize formed NEMO, the National Emergency Management Organization Today that body along with several other key organizations important to emergency management are participating in a two-day workshop on risk assessment. It's formally known as CAPRA or Central American Probabilistic Risk Assessment and Belize is the fourth country in the region to join the project, an initiative of the Inter-American Development Bank. Cassandra Rogers is the Senior Disaster Risk Management Specialist with IDB in Washington.
Cassandra Rogers: Senior Disaster Risk Management Specialist, IDB
“The issue of disaster risk management is an area of strategic importance for the bank and its borrowing member countries especially countries that are at high risk such as Belize. In terms of this particular project the bank has signed a memorandum of understanding with the World Bank to actually implement this project in Belize, Guatemala: in seven countries actually including Honduras and El Salvador. The idea is to develop tools for evaluation and communication of disaster risk; a national platform which will be available to the government and people of Belize to assist them in making informed decisions about risk. It is also to facilitate the incorporation of disaster risk management into the development planning process.”
National Coordinator for CAPRA in Belize is Elizabeth Pascascio. She explains the significance and benefits of participating in this program.
Elizabeth Pascascio: National Coordinator, CAPRA in Belize
“One of the things that we have found very important in the planning process is that these planning must be strategic and it must have sustainability because it is a process for preparation. This is the reason why we have invited decision makers in the persons of the Chairpersons of the National Emergency Management Team and Committees and Chief Executive Officers. We also invited people form community.”
At the head of NEMO is Melvin Hulse, minister with responsibility for its administration. During his remarks Hulse shared what an ideal readiness situation from a logistical position should be.
Melvin Hulse: Minister of National Emergency Management
“I would like to see us have a programme in place that allows us to punch certain information into a computer and find out what the more vulnerable areas are. These would be areas where maximum flooding would occur so that we can look into that and say if a storm comes here we anticipate flooding of ten feet here and it will affect ten thousand people. I want us to have an idea of the extent of damage we will experience.”
Another organization actively involved in CAPRA is the World Bank. Its Disaster Risk Management Consultant is Edward Anderson. He further explained the specific function of that institution to the project.
Edward Anderson: Management Consultant
“The World Bank began financing pilot activities in Nicaragua and Costa Roca for CAPRA which is a natural hazard modeling platform. It is a GIS platform of methods, tools and data to make risk maps and hazard maps. The IDB has joined the World Bank in the memorandum of understanding that really established common standards for how we measure risk. How do we map it, how do we communicate the metrics of what is risk. Many people understand hazard or hurricane or flood but they do not understand how to map that in a common language.”
The workshop which ends tomorrow evening in Belmopan aims to provide information and tools for disaster risk management that will assist in reducing the vulnerability of the nation to natural hazards and disasters. LoveFM

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