St. Maarten Anti-Poverty Platform/St. Maarten Consumer Coalition member Raymond Jessurun.
PHILIPSBURG--St. Maarten Consumer Coalition and St. Maarten Anti-Poverty Platform are worried about the lack of homes prepared to go through a hurricane system.
Prime Minister Leona Marlin hosted the second Disaster Preparedness Conference on July 5 on the topic “Communication is Critical”. During this conference St. Maarten’s “Disaster Prep Sint Maarten” app was launched.
The app is designed to provide information on disaster preparedness, to give regular updates and alerts on local emergencies.
According to Bureau Telecommunication and Post, there were almost 70,000 mobile phone connections in October 2013. The groups asked on Thursday how many mobile phone connections there are now.
With a registered population of 40,000 persons, does this mean that the average person has two mobile phones? Are these mobile phones “smart” phones? If communication is critical, how many poor and needy households have a smart phone? How many have downloaded or know how to download the app? asked the groups during a press conference Thursday.
The disaster prep app is an addition to the government’s communication network that includes the Government Information page
www.sintmaartengov.org, Facebook.com/SXMGOV, YouTube Channel and SXMGOV Radio 107.9FM.
“For an effective communication we have to ask these questions: How many households and how frequently these households visit the online government information page? How many households and how frequently they visit the SXMGOV Facebook page? How many households know and how frequently they visit the Youtube channel of government? How many households know where to find the SXMGOV radio and how often they listen to SXMGOV radio?” the groups asked.
“Does government have the answer to these questions? According to our observation, the fact that people have 1-2 cell phones does not mean that they look at the information or that they listen to the government information network. Government should know what the people look at on their phones, what are the radio programmes and stations they listen to and then consider to make use of those channels to communicate effectively with the people,” said the groups’ representative Raymond Jessurun.
“Last year in May the first Disaster Preparedness Conference took place. The theme last year was ‘Taking Charge’. The goal of the conference was to have a National Disaster Operation Plan that will be available as a reference manual for the entire community.
“The Prime Minister said at that time, ‘These plans are commonplace in other countries; therefore, St. Maarten should not be any different. In fact, we always pride ourselves on being the best. Well, today I declare that we will have the best comprehensive National Disaster Plan.’
“If this reference manual is available for the entire community, where is the National Disaster Plan? How many households have the plan? And how many households know what is in the plan? Does government have the answer to these questions?”
The groups want the Prime Minister as head of the Emergency Operation Centre to look into more effective ways and means to inform and educate all households to be better prepared for the current hurricane season.
