Minister attends DDME Earthquake Week Opening; National Plan session this week

Providenciales, TCI, January 10, 2017 – Resources are sorely lacking when it comes to the Turks and Caicos coping adequately with disaster emergencies and Director of the Government Agency responsible for planning, coordination and execution, Dr Virginia Clerveaux said she saw the attendance of the Minister Hon Delroy Williams at the opening of Earthquake Awareness Week at Rock of Jesus Ministries on Sunday as encouraging. 

“He was there to provide support and renew his commitment to ensuring that disaster management is a priority in the Turks and Caicos Islands.  So we’re happy that he’s leading by example, and perhaps through his attendance at these events it might encourage the general public to take the message from DDME, the warnings, the material a bit more seriously.”

DCH – Drop, Cover and Hold is what we ought to do in an earthquake but it is not all that would need to be done and this Thursday there will be a high level table top session with stakeholders in a move to draft a national policy on how the Turks and Caicos would handle an earthquake and its aftermath. 

The Director of the DDME in a media interview on Monday explained once the proper vetting and protocols are followed, Cabinet will decided if and when the nation adopts the plan. 

“The idea is we don’t want persons to be responding to an earthquake and have no idea what the National Earthquake Plan says. So that is why it’s important that they are involved in the drafting, the reviewing and testing of the plan.  Once we have completed that, we will draft a policy paper, we’ll send it to Cabinet for them to endorse the plan, and it will become an official earthquake contingency plan for the Turks and Caicos Islands with all the legal backing that it will require, to ensure that in a real earthquake situation, the Department of Disaster and all the other agencies have the mandate to carry out the task that are outlined in the plan.”

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