Barbados’ capacity to broadcast urgent information regarding disasters has been bolstered with the addition of five more broadcast stations signing the National Multi-Hazard Early Warning System (EWS) Programme memorandum of understanding (MOU).
Initialling the MOU on behalf of the Government this morning, were Minister of Home Affairs and Information, Wilfred Abrahams, and the Director of the Department of Emergency Management (DEM), Kerry Hinds, in the Ministry’s Conference Room, Webster Industrial Park, Wildey, St. Michael.
The five broadcast stations to sign the agreement are: BBS 90.7 FM and Faith FM 102.1; Mix 96.9 FM; Nothing But God Radio 104.7 FM; Pulse Broadcast Services Inc. (Capital Media HD 99.3); and Starcom Network.
Minister Abrahams explained that the signing of the MOU is “very critical” to assisting the DEM in alerting the public, in the event of a disaster.
“Why do we need Early Warning Systems? An Early Warning System can be the difference between life and death to persons. An early warning allows you to manage your response to an emergency, sometimes before it becomes a crisis. When you have no notice, people act in panic, then it causes chaos. If persons know what to expect and know that they will be notified in the shortest possible time frame, it leads to some confidence in the system and some confidence in our ability to respond to a disaster,” he stated.
Minister Abrahams noted that the agreement with broadcast stations was part of Government’s effort to provide as much information as possible for Barbadians to allow them to make the right choices and be informed in the event of a disaster.
Director Hinds concurred with the Minister and underscored the need for the early warning alert. “It is important that we seek to ensure that there’s an early warning to the population to engender early action. And today really represents a very important step in advancing our early warning system and in advancing resilience in Barbados,” she stated.
Meanwhile, Scott Weatherhead of Mix 96.9 FM said he was pleased to finally sign on to the Multi-Hazard Early Warning System (EWS) Programme.
“As a media house, we are very happy and excited to see that this has finally come to be. It is something that was suggested many years ago and raised many times at DEM meetings and I’m very glad to know now that it is being installed. The emergency alert service, as we in media would know it to be in broadcast, is a very important system that has been implemented in America and Canada, since the early 1980s. “And it is important because it allows all radio stations to be interrupted by the Department of Emergency Management and an important emergency message sent out across all media instantly and at the same time…. And we’re excited to see that it will be finally implemented in Barbados, and to the benefit of all of our citizens here,” Mr. Weatherhead stressed.