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Montserrat The Disaster Management Coordination Agency (DMCA) dedicated its new Media Centre on Wednesday May 18, 2005.
The commissioning of the media centre heralded a new beginning in the information dissemination process on disasters. The DMCA saw as a critical aspect of its education campaign the need to feed important and timely information to the general public using this medium. Meanwhile, the DMCA staged its annual national hurricane conference on Wednesday 18th May, 2005 to coincide with the commissioning of its new media centre. Under the theme “Learning from the past: preparing for the future”, the conference focused on the lessons learnt in 2004 with a view to strengthening the preparedness mechanisms locally for risk reduction. During the conference the main speakers - H.E. the Governor Deborah Barnes Jones, Chief Minister John Osborne, Director (DMCA) Captain Horatio Tuitt and Permanent Secretary Development Mrs. Angela Greenaway took the opportunity to hammer home the need for communities to get prepared and stay prepared. The speakers expounded on the premise that hurricane preparedness and mitigation is a responsibility shared by everyone. There was a strong warning against complacency with a growing concern and a need for the population to be aware of risk reduction in light of a predicted very busy 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. It was also emphasized that through the efforts of preparedness and mitigation, that the impact of disasters on communities can be changed by reducing the loss of life and minimize damage to property by taking responsible action. Every year, natural disasters including hurricanes, floods, earthquakes and volcanic activity require an effective coordinated response by agencies at the national and local level. In addition, Hurricane Hugo in 1989, dramatically underscored the need for effective planning and response for unprecedented natural phenomena. The conference concluded with response agencies being involved in a simulation table top exercise scenario using hurricane Hugo which devastated Montserrat in September 1989.
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