Get the Sense…

Tropical Storm Alex, the first system in the region, crawled over the country last weekend and made landfall near Belize City. First projections and computer models had Alex coming directly over Ambergris Caye. Those early projections prompted local officials on the island to spring into action before the rest of the country. If readers were following the news, they would realize that in San Pedro and Caye Caulker, Mrs. Jeromey Timrose Augustine has been active since December of last year preparing for the 2010 hurricane season. But can the same be said about the rest of the country, specifically for NEMO’s National Coordinator and the flippin’ Melvin?

The big test for the National Coordinator and flippin’ Minister came when Alex paid an early visit to Belize with forecast maximum sustained winds of 65 miles per hour. NEMO officials in Belmopan were caught with their pants down. Little did the officials in San Pedro know that neither the National Coordinator nor the flippin’ NEMO Minister had their “hurricane preparedness plan” in order. Sounds like a joke, but it became evident when the muscles were put to the test and the island’s officials had to steer the ship through the storm with the expertise they had around.

With NEMO Belmopan clueless about dealing with storms on the island, everything was left to the recently transferred NEMO Coordinator on the island and the members of her committee. Yes, the chancy National Coordinator and the Flipping Minister should be ashamed for leaving Ms. Augustine out in the cold with only her committee to help weather the storm. Ask anyone in the committee in San Pedro and they will tell you that when Ms. Augustine requested her emergency kit, she was told “we no gat nothing yet cause we neva prepare for this storm.” How on earth can the National Coordinator not have NEMO prepare for a storm when we are one month into the hurricane season? How on earth can they have announcements in the media advising the local residents to have an emergency preparedness plan when they themselves have none?

Perhaps it was the state of emergency or maybe a last minute move to save the government skin from major embarrassment that prompted Junior Heredia to take control of the emergency preparation on the island. Whatever the case, someone in authority had to lead and Junior Heredia did. The committee in San Pedro was constantly briefed by hydrologist Frank Panton who has experience with tracking hurricanes as a retired Met Officer. For the most part, the committee members were committed at a time of need. Despite the composition and political affiliations of its members, all in all, the committee was up and running upon call.

While the National Coordinator and the flippin’ Minister were making certain stupid and immature recommendation, the local San Pedro NEMO branch found it fitting to do otherwise. Even when the flippin’ Minister wanted a total island evacuation at midnight before the storm, the committee said no. So when Panton, Augustine and Junior were on the airwaves telling the islanders of the timeline action plan, that got the flippin’ Minister and the National Coordinator up in arms. This columnist understands that for every occasion that the Love FM island reporter had the local NEMO officials from the island on the airwaves Ms. Augustine was called by her superiors. In many instance those calls were received during the meetings and the committee members were witness to Ms. Augustine being scolded, belittled and disrespected by her superiors all in the middle of the emergency.

In fact, Junior felt it necessary to place a call to the flippin’ Minister and have him back off. The flippin’ Minister was reminded that during an emergency San Pedro is handled differently than the rest of the country because of its geography. Of course the flippin’ Minister was not happy and Junior was forced to tell the flippin’ one that, “as long as I am the Chair of NEMO in San Pedro, I will run the committee the way we always do.” Then came yet another blow to flippin’ Minister – “jump high or jump low, I will make decisions for my constituency even if it means being removed as chair.” But Junior did not end there; he told the Flipping Minister that, “instead of looking at the pettiness of my committee, you should get NEMO in order because we in San Pedro are more prepared than NEMO at a national level.” The very fierce telephone fight was done after the local committee was tired of being schooled and scolded by the National Coordinator and Flipping Minister.

After seeing that some of his committee members are known PUPs, Junior was forced to make an authoritative comment and shouted at the Flipping Minister over the phone, “Not even under a PUP administration did I have so many problems with NEMO like I have now under my own UDP government.” Junior’s telephone conversation says a lot about NEMO at a national level; they are confused and clueless. Alex is an awaking call for NEMO’s National Coordinator and the Flipping Minister; a message for them to get their act together. One thing that is evident however is that if Belize remains in the hands of the Flipping NEMO Minister and a stronger storm comes our way, many of us will be left up that proverbial creek without a paddle.

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