Pease Bay

Published 10th August, 9:37am

Residents of Pease Bay have taken the initiative and formed a group to manage community disaster issues. This is a sub group of the Bodden Town District Emergency Response Committee. Joseph Woods Jr. a resident of the community is leading the core group that will coordinate the effort. The group had its first meeting on August 6, at the Webster Memorial Church Hall, Bodden Town.

In the aftermath of a significant impact such as a major hurricane, it is possible that the resources of the central government may be significantly compromised and therefore unable to immediately or effectively respond to the needs of a community such as Pease Bay. It is therefore highly recommended that each community has in place a structure that will enable it to cope and survive on its own for three or four days, until assistance from the state can be provided.

Joseph Woods explained: "We want to be able to account for each resident in Pease Bay before and after an event. We are just dealing with an area that can be effectively covered by foot and we are now gathering the details of all the residents. In addition we are putting together lists of the vulnerable and elderly in our community, logging our assets such as chain saws, collecting all the phone details, the various skill sets and information about where our residents plan to shelter and so on. For example, some residents have heavy equipment that could be used to assist in the removal of debris from the roads; some have medical training to assist in rendering first aid and saving lives and some have transportation to assist where needed. There are also some skilled construction workers within the community that might be able to help in the drying and covering of a resident house "at least one room" if a catastrophic roof loss occurs. We want to ensure that in the aftermath of a catastrophic event that the people of Pease Bay will have basic necessities such as food and water."

Hazard Management Cayman Islands (HMCI) Deputy Director Omar Afflick outlined how working groups like the one in Pease Bay are well on their way to being established in North Side and Prospect, and a highly functioning group is already in operation in the Belford Estates area of Bodden Town. In addition to things like minor search and rescue, food and water distribution and shuttering, one of the important functions of the DERCs is to act as liaison with the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC), "We expect each group to perform an initial damage assessment in their area and report back to the NEOC, to assist in the process quickly determining which communities have sustained the most significant impact and with that information we can then direct the appropriate resources of the state accordingly."

"Ideally once the team is fully established we would have a person on each street in Pease Bay who would have a good idea of what is going on, a person who could check on their neighbours, knock on doors and report back." Joey Woods added "We are really hoping the whole community gets involved in this. Together we can make Pease Bay a stronger and more resilient community and make it through an event when disaster strikes."

Anyone who is interested in being involved in the District Emergency Response Committees can contact HMCI Public Awareness and Communications Officer Simon Boxall on Tel. 926-2027 or by email at simon.boxall@gov.ky.

For further information contact: Simon Boxall