Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs giving a keynote address on the final day of the 11th Caribbean conference on Comprehensive Disaster Management (CDM).
From left: Journalist and panel moderator Alita Singh, CDEMA Executive Director Ronald Jackson, BVI Deputy Governor David Archer, St. Maarten Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs, Bahamas Minister Iram Lewis, and World Bank representative Ming Zhang.
MAHO--Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs suggested several ways that St. Maarten and the wider region can be better prepared for a hurricane strike during her keynote address on the final day of the eleventh Caribbean conference on Comprehensive Disaster Management (CDM) at Sonesta Maho Beach Resort, Casino and Spa.
The first suggestion Jacobs offered was to establish a rapid response team for search and rescue that can be deployed in advance of a hurricane strike or immediately afterward. There should also be pooling of human resources such as police and/or security personnel, teachers, doctors, nurses and other professionals, said the Prime Minister.
Jacobs also called for a Caribbean disaster fund. “Most, if not all our governments suffer from financial constraints, which are sometimes chronic in nature. Our annual budgets often do not contain allocations for comprehensive disaster management.
“Budgeting for disasters should therefore be a must for all of us. We might even want to consider a common disaster fund for the Caribbean to which every participating territory contributes annually, much in the same way as our people are known to practice the ‘susu’ or ‘partner’ hand,” she said.
In a similar vein, Jacobs spoke of implementing joint Caribbean disaster insurance. This should extend to businesses and individuals, she said.
“In St. Maarten, many homes and businesses were underinsured or not insured at all [before Hurricane Irma – Ed.]. Only some companies had business interruption insurance. … Since we are all small islands, the economy of scale makes insurance policies rather prohibitive in terms of cost. Maybe a joint Caribbean Disaster Insurance available to the private sector could bring down cost,” she said.
According to Jacobs, hurricanes and weather patterns should be incorporated into school curricula as part of environmental or nature studies. This is not only to impart knowledge about the climate, but also to raise awareness about the hazards the Caribbean confronts every year, she said.
Jacobs also called for the establishment of a regional reporters corps to “back up local media practitioners and transmit accurate, reliable news reports that give a more factual rather than sensational account about the disaster to the outside world.”
“We often do not discuss the political casualties of disasters. … In the case of St. Maarten, Hurricanes Luis and Irma blew everything away, including the sitting governments. In times of disaster, politics should be set aside. We should view disaster as ‘war’ and all efforts should be geared towards prosecuting and winning that ‘war’.
“It cannot and should not be politics as usual, as difficult as it may be for politicians not to play politics and seek political advantage whenever they can. It is my considered opinion that political instability, in times of disaster, is not conducive to effective response and recovery. …
“St. Martin patriot Dr. Hubert Petit once said, ‘The gale does not stop at the frontier.’ This was meant to indicate that whatever happens on one side of [our] unique island has a direct impact on the other side. I believe the same can be said of the wider Caribbean.
“That is why it is imperative for us to continue to build, adapt, and improve our resilience, at the macro (systems), meso (neighbourhoods) and micro levels (families and individuals), forging alliances to maximise regional cooperation in this very important field of disaster management,” concluded Jacobs.
Jacobs’ speech came before a question-and-answer session that included Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) Executive Director Ronald Jackson; British Virgin Islands (BVI) Deputy Governor David Archer; Bahamian Minister of State for Disaster Preparedness, Management and Reconstruction Iram Lewis; and World Bank Practice Manager for Urban Development and Disaster Risk Management in the Latin America and Caribbean Region Ming Zhang.
