Hanover Prepared for Hurricane Season

With the island now a few weeks into the 2009 hurricane season, Disaster Preparedness Co-ordinator for Hanover, Olga Fae Headley, has declared that the parish is prepared to face any disasters, including storms or hurricanes.
Speaking with JIS News following a disaster preparedness public education seminar, held at the Hopewell High School, on June 15, Mrs. Headley outlined the preparation programmes that have been implemented across the parish by her office, in collaboration with the Hanover Parish Council and other agencies.
“We are as prepared as we can be at this time. We have identified our shelters; we have 50 shelters in all, and we have had two separate training for shelter managers. There are 16 priority shelters and those 16 shelters will be manned by the Red Cross, along with other shelter managers, if necessary,” she noted.
She pointed out that an extensive drain cleaning programme is in progress across the parish, adding that continuous rainfall since the start of June has caused heavy silting in some of the drains, so that they have to be cleaned more than once.
The Co-ordinator spoke of plans to acquire a standby generator for the Emergency Operating Centre (EOC), located at the offices of the Hanover Parish Council, to facilitate the centre’s full operation in the absence of regular power supply.
With respect to emergency supplies, Mrs. Headley noted that some are in storage in the parish capital, Lucea. She said that to be pro-active, some items are being placed at the 16 priority shelters identified throughout the parish.
She lauded businesses throughout the parish for their support to the disaster preparedness plans, pointing out that private companies with heavy duty equipment have given commitments to make them available if the need arises, while food wholesalers have consented to establish a line of credit for food items, if necessary.
Mrs. Headley said that the disaster preparedness public education programme being undertaken by her office is going well, with tremendous support from the general public.