Premier Dr. the Honourable D. Orlando Smith, OBE has lauded the recent international accreditation conferred upon the National Disaster Management Programme (NDMP) as “an outstanding achievement and one we must celebrate and be very proud of.”
The annual meeting of the National Disaster Management Council (NDMC) took on added significance this year with the signing of Memoranda of Understandings (MOUs) with the British Virgin Islands Airports Authority (BVIAA) and the Insurance Association of the British Virgin Islands (IABVI).
Premier and Minister of Finance, Dr. the Honourable D. Orlando Smith, OBE is extending congratulations to the Department of Disaster Management for leading the BVI on the journey to become the first Territory in the Caribbean to be granted international accreditation from the Emergency Management Accreditation Programme (EMAP).
The British Virgin Islands has become the first territory outside of the United States and Canada to be granted international accreditation for its disaster management programme.
Over 4,200 persons from the public and private sector participated in this year’s national tsunami exercise, Caribe Wave Lantex 15.
This year’s scenario was based on a magnitude 8.5 earthquake occurring north of Panama. The exercise commenced at 10:05 am on March 25 and concluded just after midday with participation of persons on Anegda, Jost Van Dyke, Tortola and Virgin Gorda. The exercise was designed to allow for testing of the national emergency broadcast and alert system and to evaluate the newly revised tsunami protocols which provide guidance to the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force and the Department of Disaster Management in handling response operations for this type of hazard impact.
Fourteen delegates from the Overseas Territories have joined others from the BVI to participate in a Level I Oil Spill Response Training being offered at the Training Division from March 24 to 26.
The British Virgin Islands will join several other countries and territories in testing their tsunami readiness during the simulation exercise, Caribe Wave/Lantex 2015, scheduled for Wednesday, March 25.
Forecasters are uncertain about how the 2015 Atlantic hurricane season will look if the currently developing weak El Niño persists throughout the summer months.
This initial uncertainty comes ahead of the first quantitative forecast for 2015 which will be issued on April 9.
