Annou Pale: PM Skerrit discusses about upcoming Hurricane Season 2022

Roseau, Dominica: Prime Minister Dr Roosevelt Skerrit talked about the upcoming Hurricane Season 2022 during the latest edition of his weekly show Annou Pale. The episode was telecasted on May 29, 2022 (Sunday).

Prime Minister Skerrit interacted with Programme Officer at the Office of Disaster Management- Mandela Christian and Chairman of NEPO’s Shelter Committee- Glenroy Toussaint and discussed the strategies to raise awareness to protect the lives of residents of Dominica.

The Hurricane season will begin from June 1, 2022 in the Caribbean country, including Dominica.

The Prime Minister began the weekly show by stating that Dominica remains vulnerable to the disasters such as Tropical Storms and Hurricanes as a nation the government must renew its efforts, every year, to strengthen its systems to protect the citizens.

He also mentioned that since 2017, the government of Dominica is committed to building capacities as individuals, households, and community levels to position our country as the world’s first climate-resilient nation.

Prime Minister also mentioned about the newly commissioned regional emergency shelters Jimmit and Castle Bruce. The shelters were commissioned on May 25, 2022 (Wednesday). He further explained that the shelter in Jimmit and Castle Bruce will protect around 500 and 300 people, respectively, during the landfall of Hurricane.

He was quoted as, “These are the real and practical steps we are taking to achieve our climate resilience goals. We are ensuring that people of our communities can access safe, clean, and well-equipped spaces in the event of major disasters.”

Furthermore, PM Skerrit stated that National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted that 14 to 21 named storms and three (3) to six (6) major hurricanes may make landfall in the upcoming months.

He underlined, “National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicts 14 to 21 name storms that this also includes three to six major hurricanes and from the experiences that it takes one only to make landfall in Dominica to leave fast devastation behind it.”

Prime Minister Dr Roosevelt Skerrit also stated about the Comprehensive Disaster Management Bill, which will be soon presented in the cabinet.

The same point was highlighted by the Disaster Management Officer- Christina, who stated that under the bill quite a comprehensive programme is highlighted for implementing disaster reduction in Dominica over the next five years and also they have the ongoing resilience initiatives.

The chairman of Shelter Committee of NEPO- Toussaint mentioned that the National Emergency Planning Organization (NEPO) and Climate Resilience Execution Agency for Dominica (CREAD) will work tegether to enhance the strength of the community to respond to adverse weather events.

He further stated that with the different strategies CREAD and NEPO identified 13 most vulnerable communities, 28 vulnerable communities, 11 less vulnerable communities and 10 least vulnerable communities.

While concluding the weekly show, the PM Skerrit asked the residents for basic checklist:

He stated that the country needs to ensure that they have some food supply, dry goods, and teen stuff, non-perishable food items that they could easily move with. The country needs to ensure that they have a safe place to stay, and the general suppliers, medication, and any other needs people are critical can’t at them. So people should have a stock of basic needs for about seven days.

Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit added, “People should always have hospital bags if they fall ill so they can treat themselves.”