Red Cross members updated on Covid-19 protocols and hurricane preparedness
BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, June 17, 2020 (MMS-SKN) — With an above-normal 2020 Atlantic Hurricane Season predicted, members of the five St. Kitts and Nevis Red Cross Society districts on St. Kitts were Tuesday afternoon June 16 updated on the society’s Covid-19 protocols, hurricane preparedness and other on-going projects.
“The St. Kitts and Nevis Red Cross Society is involved in a number of projects,” said Disaster Coordinator Mrs Telca Wallace, at the meeting which was held at the society’s headquarters on Hosford Road in Basseterre. “Also this is the start of the hurricane season and we needed to update our members on our protocols regarding Covid-19 and the hurricane season, as well as on-going projects.”
The meeting, which observed Covid-19 hand sanitisation and social distancing protocols, was also attended by President of the St. Kitts and Nevis Red Cross Society Mr Elmo Burke, Director General Mr Hester Rawlins, St. Kitts Branch Director Mrs Sharon Warner-Balbosa, and Executive member and First Aid Instructor Ms Debra Veira.
“We gave an update of the hurricane season, and the fact that there will be thirteen to sixteen named storms, and of those we have three to six major hurricanes,” said Mrs Wallace. “That is the prediction, and the season is more active than normal.”
She noted the meeting served to update the Red Cross Society volunteers on the names of the storms and the different frequencies of the hurricanes and the different stages like one to five, and to give them a reminder of the wind speed associated with each stage of a hurricane.
Currently the Red Cross Society is involved with a Covid-19 project which seeks to assist vulnerable individuals and families who have been impacted by the economic fallout of Covid-19. It also has a project that involves public service announcements as well as targeting families who need help, to allow the society assist them on a continuous basis, while it is also providing psychosocial support to families and individuals who are in need.
“There is also an on-going project that started last year October which is the capacity building initiative for disaster preparedness and response in national societies within the Caribbean, and this seeks to build capacity both in numbers and capacity in terms of competencies within the societies across the region,” said Mrs Wallace.
Funding for the project came from the US Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance through the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and according to Mrs Wallace the project is going to be for a two-year period.
As a result of interruptions of Covid-19 and the recently held elections, the Red Cross Society had to postpone some of its training, but it has training in community disaster response teams coming up shortly as well as national intervention teams. This project, according to Mrs Wallace, speaks to capacity building in terms of getting more young persons involved in the Red Cross.
“We are accepting people of all age range but there is a special project that seeks to inculcate youth into the Red Cross and so this project is singling out young people because any association or society needs new life, and so getting young people with energy involved is critical,” observed Mrs Wallace.
She added: “We are doing every day involvement of people of all ages, but because of the assessment that was done, and the fact that young persons are needed within societies, this is a project that gears towards young people.
