NEMA: We issued warnings in time

Members of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force in southern Long Island on Wednesday, helping with relief efforts. Photo: RBDF

As of Friday, October 9, 2015

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

NATIONAL Emergency Management Association officials defended their efforts to warn Bahamians about Hurricane Joaquin yesterday even as they accused the media of playing a role in not keeping people in the southern Bahamas informed about the danger and proximity of the monster storm.

MICAL MP V Alfred Gray has criticised NEMA and the Department of Meteorology over the issue, saying “heads should roll” over their actions. He has also said it appeared as though the two agencies were “seemingly caught off guard”.

Residents throughout the southern islands have also said they were surprised by the storm and its rapid intensification. In Acklins, one of the islands most affected by the storm, no emergency shelters were open as the storm bore down.

However, Acting Director of Meteorology Trevor Basden said yesterday that the warnings issued for Hurricane Joaquin were timely.

He said that even though the National Hurricane Centre (NHC), which is located in Florida, had data and models that indicated the storm would not affect the Bahamas, local officials still made the decision to issue hurricane warnings for the central Bahamas and hurricane alerts for northwestern Bahamas.

The first hurricane warning was issued at Tuesday midnight of last week, Mr Basden said. However, it does not appear that any warning was issued for southern Bahamas at the time.

“(The storm) was drifting, moving at three and five miles per hour with no clear steering current,” he said. “It wasn’t expected to move into the Bahamas. It was formed some 381 miles to the closest point in the Bahamas, San Salvador. Normally systems move between 8-12 miles per hour. Once we realised that this system was drifting, we had no confidence in the models. Realising models were not tracking the storm properly, we were careful and issued a hurricane watch for the Bahamas for preparedness sake. It was only at 11am Tuesday (September 29) that any guidance or tracking forecast had it moving towards the Bahamas.”

“From our timelines, when we went through necessary alerts and warnings that were issued, they were timely. We were well within the timeline. We held our responsibility and performed to the maximum.”

Ronald Jackson, executive director of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency, supported Mr Basden’s statements, saying: “To the (credit of local officials), they decided to bring a watch and alert at a time when the Hurricane Centre had a forecast that would’ve taken the hurricane away from Bahamas. Had (the local officials) not done that, we would’ve been looking at a situation where no warnings or alerts would’ve been followed. They recognised something different from what the NHC was saying and that is what we saw from our offices in Barbados.”

Nonetheless, Lindsay Thompson, a communications officer at NEMA, suggested that in terms of people being caught off guard by the storm, some fault lay with the media for failing to ensure warnings are publicised throughout the country.

“We rely on you to get the word out to the public, which is part of your civic duty as well,” she said. “So yes, we have to bear some of the responsibility, meaning members of the public, (NEMA) has to bear some of that responsibility ourselves, and yes, as much as the media does their part and that is commendable, maybe you have to step up your game in terms of getting your signal to other parts of the country. I’m not getting into your pockets or how you evolve your stations but I’m thinking the way forward and as a developing country, ZNS is doing its part and maybe the other media needs to step up and hey, have your signal go out to other parts of the country so everybody could turn into NB12, Guardian Radio, JCN.”

After a reporter noted that not all media houses have licenses to broadcast throughout the country, Ms Thompson said: “I know but that needs to be addressed on some level. Maybe you need to go back to the table and say this is of national import, national security and we would like to extend our licenses in the interest of national safety.”

More like this story

B_I_D___ 9 years ago

Just gonna sit back and watch the fireworks on this one...

asiseeit 9 years ago

The government of The Bahamas is a joke and a hindrance. NEMA needs to sit small and let the private sector deal with the situation, they will get it done. NEMA will waste, steal and in general get in the way. The government of The Bahamas is pathetic, step aside and let the real leaders of this country do what is needed!

realfreethinker 9 years ago

they still haven't account for the $20mil from the hurricanes in 2004

Clamshell 9 years ago

It is a conplete lie to claim that the National Hurricane Center said the storm would never hit the Bahamas. A complete lie. Their discussions, watches and warnings are on the web, on the record. He is simply lying. He thinks Bahamians are too stupid or lazy to check, or to remember. Liar.

GuestSailor 9 years ago

... NOAA first mentioned a possible thread to the Central Bahamas in their public advisory issued on TUE SEP 29 2015, 500 PM EDT ...

... http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2015/al…

Clamshell 9 years ago

All correct. U.S. homeowners were discussing the storm and trading NOAA/NHC info on Out Islands websites a week before it struck the Bahamas. The NEMA crew were probably busy ordering their lunch and updating their Facebook pages.

ThisIsOurs 9 years ago

The MET did their job too. Just as with NOAA, the response was lacking

TalRussell 9 years ago

The Minister responsible for the NEMA portfolio is the Rt. Honourable Comrade Prime Minster. So was Carnival 2015 under the PM's domain and didn't he declare that all the critics had been silenced following Carnival's smashing success.
And, despite such an smashing pronouncement having been declared way back in May 2015, still there has been NO public accounting of the estimated 12 million dollars of taxpayers monies the government spent on their big invite to the world, an invite that no one was motivated to travel from their corner of the world to we Bahamaland.
But still I read where it generated 60 million dollars into we economy????? Tell me something. Can you just say such things???? I guess so, if your cabinet's bankers are the BOB and da taxpayers.

MonkeeDoo 9 years ago

I realize we who post here are the choir and we preaching to ourselves except for birdiestrachan but the fact is the Bahamian people are just docile and accept anything. They will march to Rawson Square for any little thing but when the Government fails so MISERABLY they don't even get out of they damned beds. They must be waiting for the Gubment to put a hose in they bedroom winda !

killemwitdakno 9 years ago

There's appropriate times to defend yourself and other times you say 'Let's do this better'.

The warning was not effective, some people mid two days of news. Flyers aren't that outdated you know.

NEMA must also be there imthrought the storm and most definitely relaying messages to the public in the first hours. ZNS could not hear from them then.

TalRussell 9 years ago

Comrades I'll let you read as a realists, all pretty promises made by NEMA prior to category 4 Hurricane Joaquin, making landfall on we islands. How many these promises do you think they delivered? What would have happened, had there been a massive loss of lives - certainly no credit for no loss lives can be attributed to a any pre hurricane prep performed by NEMA, I seriously doubt they have ever distributed a single body bag to the islands. What would they have done with the bodies, if 100 residents had been killed?
The National Emergency Management Agency
Overview
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) is a government agency which operates under the authority of Cabinet Office.
Our Values
We believe that:
The goal of the Office of Disaster Preparedness is to preserve human life in times of crisis.
Effective Disaster Management depends upon the consistent coordination and integration of the work of many agencies, organizations and individuals.
A community that is well prepared for hazards of all kinds will survive and recover quickly from disasters.
Excellent service must be provided to the community before, during and after a disaster or emergency.
Flexibility and adaptability of approach must be the basis of the delivery of disaster management services.
Staff commitment, capacity, teamwork and motivation will be the primary contributors to the organization’s success.
Vision
An organization that anticipates the potential negative impacts of disasters and emergency situations and develops effective and efficient plans, procedures and systems to minimize such impacts, by relying on sound principles of disaster management, community participation and inter-agency collaboration.
Mission
To reduce the loss of life and property within the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, by ensuring that adequate preparedness and mitigation measures, and response and recovery mechanisms are established to counteract the impact of natural, man- made and technological hazards.

Wideawake 9 years ago

QUESTIONS

How much funding does NEMA get each year.? What is Captn Russell's salary and what are his qualifications for this position?
How many full and/or part time staff does NEMA have?
Who signs NEMA's cheques and who oversees their accounts?
Our hurricane season lasts for 6 months; what does NEMA staff do for the rest of the year?
Does NEMA have an "Operation Manual" that defines EXACTLY what it is that they do?
Is the above mentioned "Operation Manual" available for examination by the public?
Will Captn. Russell present to the HOA and to the Bahamian public a detailed day by day, and hour by hour account of EXACTLY what the staff of NEMA actually did during the days leading up to the arrival of the hurricane, and during the days since?
What strategies and future plans has NEMA developed to properly protect Bahamians against the dangers and threats of a direct hit by a hurricane?
If such strategies and plans have been developed why were they not implemented?
The Bahamas Government and NEMA failed the Bahamian public miserably during the past two weeks. The private sector performed amazingly. What exactly does this tell us?

GrassRoot 9 years ago

Wideawake, stop second guessing the PM's talent, vision, abilities and execution. You are herewith declared a Pariah, please present yourself on Monday at 2 pm sharp at the downtown police station. you will be given your Pariah tattoo on the forehead, and an orange jumpsuit, shackles and an monitoring ankle bracelet. You shall be ineligible to any support by, job in the Government and lose all your voting rights, and the right to be elected.

Wideawake 9 years ago

The truth always hurts!

SP 9 years ago

.............................................. Too little, but not too late ...............................................

Captain Stephen Russell's acknowledgment that major challenges exist in ensuring that relief efforts on the islands devastated by Hurricane Joaquin are well organized is late in coming and offers no solution to the problems.

What was the results and point of the assessment trips if not to find solutions???

Disaster aftermath remidiation involving multiple or large swath areas must be addressed in a twofold or even trifold capacity or it will ultimately fail causing further needless trauma to victims and possibly loss of life!

New Providence as the command center to receive, catalog, store and "initially" breakdown incoming supplies to be destined for satellite distribution points on two fronts.

Exuma should be designated as the secondary staging arena to receive, catalog, store and distribute relief supplies to each surrounding island where sub-staging areas must be established to receive, catalog and distribute to settlements based on government statistics of population in settlements.

Great Inagua if still functional, or if not, even better, Turks and Caicos should also be designated as a third staging arena to receive, catalog, store and distribute relief supplies to affected islands in the deep South.

The whole remidiation exercise should be designed to "aggressively attack" devastated Islands on a minimum of two flanks.

Baha10 9 years ago

One can not defend the indefensible, simple as that, Bahamian lives were placed in peril due to "paid" Government personnel that were charged with the responsibility of protecting their own Citizens and failed, end of story, do the honorable thing, resign and return your salaries that you are clearly not deserving of. Imagine that, we might actually be able to move Forward, Upward, Together, but alas I reckon those words were removed from the Bahamian Dictionary long ago, together with responsibility, accountability, integrity and honesty, you see everyone thinks I am speaking another language now, least we forget, March On Bahamaland, March On ...

TalRussell 9 years ago

Comrade it might not be bad idea to restart our Independence Day.

Jonahbay 9 years ago

The foolishness I have seen with regards to NEMA and itself getting the message to the people that needed it is mind-blowing. Lindsay Thompson, its Communication director made everything clear when he stated on the news "We have to lie. I mean rely..." NEMA were not even holding the ball to drop it. They are a disgrace. Their Facebook page has not been hacked. If Bahamians had perished they would have blood on their hands. Resign and do us all a favor.

ThisIsOurs 9 years ago

I'm puzzled why they don't have a simple checklist of the things that should be done, by whom and then just verify that it was done. Not expect the administrator was either heard or was instructed to act, bug verify that he actually acted. When the task is verified as complete, your management role ends.

The MET's seems to be the only institution who actually performed their duty, they reported the weather. I've noticed several reports from the island saying "they didn't know", I find it very hard to believe that nobody on an entire island knew a hurricane was headed their way

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