NODS Official Cautions Against Complacency

Details

Environment Articles

Wednesday, 22 August 2012 21:36

By Everton Barnes

Antigua St. John’s - Antigua & Barbuda was spared the worst effects of Tropical Storm Isaac as it passed the country overnight further away than earlier estimates had predicted.

By 8 pm Wednesday, the Met Office had reported that the storm had already passed Antigua & Barbuda and all that was expected were heavy overnight rains.

The Met Office even reduced its rainfall projections to about 2 inches, down from earlier predictions of upwards of 4 inches as the storm had been expected to pass closer to Antigua.

Against this backdrop, the Deputy Head of the National Office of Disaster Services (NODS), Sherrod James, is warning residents not to let the passage of this latest storm lull them into complacency.

“There are some who we expect will be asking the question, why did we do all this preparation (in anticipation of TS Isaac)? Some will even say that ‘we did this for nothing’, but I want to caution everyone that we are still in the active period of the hurricane season, and the Atlantic is still quite active. Those preparations that were done ahead of TS Isaac are what we at NODS have been urging for the last several months,” he noted.

James said disaster readiness is something everyone should do until it becomes second nature.

“You don’t train your staff how to use a fire extinguisher and then complain that there is no fire,” he suggested.

Ahead of the passage of the storm, hundreds of people flocked to supermarkets and purchased food and other items, fearing the worst from the storm. Acting on an advice from NODS, many businesses closed at midday Wednesday allowing staff to take the extra hours to do last-minute preparations.

By mid-afternoon, many parts of St John’s was a virtual ghost town with business places closed and the streets empty of traffic.

• < Prev
• Next >