Officials of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) activated their disaster preparedness plans Tuesday as Hurricane Frances ploughed toward the Bahamas on a path that threatened widespread destruction.
Carl Smith, director of NEMA, warned residents throughout the country to take the threat of the storm seriously.
ﾓFirst of all, they need to take the advice very seriously as the management office for NEMAﾅworks on the worst case scenario,ﾒ Mr. Smith said. ﾓAnd so now persons need to be securing their homes. They should have gotten supplies of potable water, storable food supplies and batteries for their radios.
ﾓPersons should know the closest shelter designated to their place of residence so if they were to evacuate, they would know where to go. ﾠThey need to establish in advance where that place is for them.ﾒ ﾠﾠ
His comments were made after disaster preparedness officials met at the Cabinet Office in downtown Nassau.
Mr. Smith told the Bahama Journal that officials fine-tuned their preparedness plans to meet the unique needs of individual islands.
ﾠﾓEssentially what we are going to do is to send advanced teams to several Family Islands and these advanced teams consist of police and persons from social services,ﾒ he said. ﾠﾓThere may not necessarily be a representative from each of those agencies that was mentioned. ﾠIt depends on the needs that exist.ﾒ
He added, ﾓUnfortunately, we are faced with a very dangerous system at this time.ﾒ
Royanne Forbes, The Bahama Journal
