The “Roop” Economic Corner…Early warning systems – Are we ready?

Sep 03, 2008 Features / Columnists

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Peter R. Ramsaroop, MBA

INTRODUCTION:

This week we all became aware once again of the hurricane season.  We in Guyana have been lucky never to have experienced a hurricane, but given global warming, weather patterns are changing and one can make a turn for us.
I have written about contingency planning in the past for the local papers and also in my two books “Thriving in the Age of Terror” and “Securing Business Intelligence”. Being prepared involves our economics, from a personal, business and country level.  As we saw in New Orleans this week, all businesses were closed and people left town. The countries affected spend significant dollars to be prepared as much as possible for these natural disasters through civil defence and education of their people.
We experienced our own disaster with the great flood of 2005, but really have not learned from the lessons of that disaster. The lack of an early warning system can be disastrous for our nation.  I have reiterated a few points again and described a case study.

EARLY WARNING SYSTEMS:

We have experienced heavy rains, flooding, and destruction of buildings in the past when some of the hurricanes winds came our way.   Imagine, if one such storm caused a water surge over the seawall, what would have been our reaction given we are below sea level.  What would we do with ourselves, our family, and our businesses?  Are we prepared?  What if the water was six feet high and we panicked and got in our cars heading for higher ground, would we not die?  Then what should be our plans?   What happens when our military, which is next to the ocean, loses their equipment because of no warning systems?
One product that is currently being marketed to the region is called “CommunitySafe”. It is an early warning system that civil defence can notify our cell phones and land lines of pending disasters.

CASE STUDY:

Veracruz, Mexico employs CommunitySafe to provide vital information to citizens about the danger of Hurricane Dean.
— One of the chief concerns during a major storm such as Hurricane Dean is how to effectively reach all citizens with the correct safety and preparedness information to help reduce panic and confusion.
Fidel Herrera, the Governor of Veracruz, Mexico, is using CommunitySafe (www.communitysafe.com) powered by OneCommand to send out a series of personal messages to over 500,000 citizens to quickly provide vital information to help ensure the safety and peace of mind of his citizens.
CommunitySafe is an instant alert and communications system that allows for the dissemination of vital information to citizens (or communities) quickly and effectively. Users can develop and send out targeted messages instantly from any location. Using state-of-the-art emergency broadcast technology, CommunitySafe facilitates the simultaneous broadcast of voice, text and email messages to ten or tens of thousands of individuals within a matter of minutes.
The process is simple and communications are executed with advanced technology that does not tie up resources such as phone lines or bandwidth or personnel. The first message was sent as a warning prior to the arrival of Hurricane Dean. It was a personal message from Governor Herrera to inform citizens that a State of Emergency had been called and to assure them that everything would be fine with security and that all citizens and their families were in the capable hands of the National Guard and the government. It provided an emergency number to call for help or more information.

The need to be ready

1. We need our government and Caricom to acquire a product such as CommunitySafe and to install sirens and speaker systems throughout the coastal plains with the appropriate warnings.  Such an Outdoor Warning System is designed to alert residents about possible danger. Specific emergency announcements can be broadcast over any of these sirens which should be located on poles and on top of buildings throughout all neighbourhoods.
2. We should make a plan, build a kit (buy canned foods and store in your home to last a few days), and get involved in practicing for different scenarios.
3. We need our Government to feed off of the US National Disaster Weather System until we can obtain our own.

CONCLUSIONS:

We need to provide our Civil Defence Unit, which is tasked to ensure we are ready for disasters, with the appropriate tools.  We need to be prepared for disasters; we need to be educated on how to act; we need to be informed prior to such events as early as possible; and we in the business community need to develop our business recovery plan and test it regularly.  Businesses need to be ready because the cost of downtime can shut you down permanently.  As private citizens, we need our official agencies to notify us in a timely manner.  Given the blackouts we experience during bad weather, the best way for us to be notified is via our cell phones and land lines, and we can spread an accurate message to others. Let’s get ready.

Email:[email protected]

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