Government is in the process of creating the National Emergency Management Agency to coordinate disaster preparedness, response and mitigation, Leader of Government Business Kurt Tibbetts announced Friday night at the People’s Progressive Movement’s Fundraising Gala Affair.
‘NEMA is an acronym you will hear often,’ Mr. Tibbetts said. ‘A disaster and emergency preparedness bill has been prepared and will be presented to Cabinet by the end of March.’
McCleary Frederick, who will serve as the Deputy Director of NEMA said the Director Designate of the agency is Kirkland Nixon, who is retiring as Chief Fire Officer.
Mr. Nixon is on leave indefinitely from the Fire Services.
A former Chief Building Inspector with the Department of Planning, Mr. Frederick has previous experience with disaster response.
‘I’ve been involved with the Hurricane Committee for many years,’ he said.
NEMA will take over the principle role of co-ordinating preparedness and management of emergencies of all kinds. Those emergencies could include natural disasters such as hurricanes, tsunamis and earthquakes, as well as disasters caused by things like airplane crashes or terrorism attacks.
Mr. Frederick said NEMA would not replace such existing organisations as National Hurricane Committee, but would operate above them.
‘NEMA would actually kick-off the Hurricane Committee’s response [to a threat],’ Mr. Frederick said.
Another component of NEMA that is being worked on is its coordination of aid management, including international aid.
Mr. Frederick said besides himself and the director, NEMA is looking to hire a staff of five others.
‘We’re working on the job descriptions right now, and as soon as they are reviewed and approved, we’ll be advertising for the positions,’ he said.
The hiring process will begin even before the necessary legislation is passed, Mr. Frederick said.
‘Hurricane season is coming and we can’t wait until March to start getting things organised,’ he said.
Mr. Frederick noted that disaster management operations were not all well coordinated after Hurricane Ivan. NEMA will improve those efforts.
‘The biggest advantage will be in coordination,’ he said. ‘Having one single body to coordinate everything will really help.’
NEMA will also liaise with the private sector to help coordinate its response as well, Mr. Frederick said.
Advance NEMA operations are being conducted from the Emergency Operations Centre at the Fire Service Headquarters near the airport.
Mr. Tibbetts mentioned Friday night that a purpose-built emergency management facility for NEMA was to be incorporated in the new government accommodation project.
Mr. Frederick said there was still some discussion about whether the facility should be part of the government accommodation building or a purpose-built stand-alone building.
‘That’s still yet to be decided,’ Mr. Frederick said.
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