The Tribune

As much as we have talked about the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian, we must now turn our minds to a new hurricane season.

Of course, it is February now and the hurricane season is some months away, starting in June, but if there is one thing we must learn from the storm that devastated Abaco and Grand Bahama, it is that we can never be too prepared.

Golden Isles MP Vaughn Miller fired a warning shot of dissent yesterday, saying that the mid-year is “woefully deficient” and that government had not done enough to show it was prepared for the next season. He highlighted the lack of an allocation for the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in the budget.

Minister of Works Desmond Bannister took issue with Mr Miller’s comments, but the news that officials only “hope” to have completely deactivated shelters by the time of the next storm season do raise concerns.

For all we’ve heard about dome cities and the use of other locations as temporary housing – such as the Poinciana Inn on Bernard Road – the thought that there isn’t certainty over shelter arrangements for June is disconcerting. If there are people still in shelters by then, where will people go if, heaven forbid, we are struck by another hurricane?

Certainly we should be learning lessons from last year, when some shelters weren’t deemed fit for use and there wasn’t a list of shelters even publicly available by the start of the hurricane season.

Social Services Minister Frankie Campbell strikes the right note over wanting to be in a position to cease the use of shelters so final preparations can be made for the new season – while wryly noting that “the media likes to hold us hard and fast to dates and that’s probably why we don’t give dates”. It’s not that we like to hold government to dates – but if a date is given and flies on past without an update, it’s always appropriate to ask the question about what happened. Especially when we’re talking about public facilities, public money and, most important of all, public safety.

The farce of red tape

In the realm of “you couldn’t make it up”, Bahamas Customs has banned the only Abaco aviation freight provider from flying to the island.

In the middle of hurricane recovery efforts, this is the kind of decision that leaves people tearing their hair out in frustration.

What’s the big problem? Customs insists that the local agent for Abaco Freight has to pay a bond – oh, and in the middle of hurricane relief, the agent has to go to Nassau to be trained on the government’s Click2Clear electronic goods clearance system.

Meanwhile, the freight stacks up as a backlog, and the lack of flights could cause a delay in the planned March 4 reopening of Abaco Beach Resort.

Worse, one person said they were expecting their blood pressure medicine from Abaco Freight – but it has been unable to supply it.

Imposting Customs red tape at this time and without any alternatives ready and waiting seems like an abundance of red tape and a lack of foresight. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance financial secretary played pass the parcel and pointed The Tribune to the Customs comptroller - who couldn’t be reached. If only people on Abaco could get their parcels…

Sort it out, please, government. And quickly.

By now, we should have clearly assessed the biggest problems in the Hurricane Dorian response – the availability of shelters, the speed of the rescue response, the supply chain to deliver food and hurricane supplies, the speed of the reconstruction effort. It’s not a difficult conversation – hurricane survivors will have a list of the areas they feel could have been handled better.

Beyond the government response, though, Hurricane Dorian ought to have taught us that as citizens we need to be better prepared in case of a storm. Dorian looked as though it was petering out before roaring through Abaco and Grand Bahama – so it shows we must always be prepared. Get your hurricane kit ahead of the start of the season. Work out your plan for getting to your nearest shelter ahead of a storm’s impact. And plan for the worst – how do you get out of your home if it suddenly fills with 20 feet of water?

Hurricane Dorian has shown us some of the structural problems of our hurricane preparations and response. But it has also shown us the need to be ready ourselves. That is a lesson we must learn.