Front Porch
By Simon
Hurricane Irene laid bare homes, businesses, churches, public buildings, farms and vegetation across the archipelago. It also laid bare certain mindsets. Among them, rank political opportunism by the leader of the opposition and the knee jerk complaints of some whose stock-in-trade is the intellectually disingenuous.
One can almost give the former prime minister a pass as he grasps at just about any opportunistic straw to criticize the current prime minister, even when such criticism is transparently silly or even blatantly hypocritical. In the aftermath of Irene, both were on display. The knee jerk complainers are in a class of their own.
Most Bahamians see through Christie’s laughably insincere two-step charade of criticizing others for what he typically failed to do or accomplish when in office. These failures range from issues on crime and education, to disaster preparedness and response. His administration’s failures following Hurricanes Jeanne, Frances and Wilma encapsulated its lethargic response to an array of policy matters.
DRAMATIC
As Christie took potshots at the Ingraham administration while simultaneously calling for national unity, and the complainers engaged in their anti-Ingraham tirade, more neutral observers rendered their independent observation of the country’s response to Irene. In an editorial titled, “Taming one of nature’s most furious beasts”, The Jamaica Observer editorialized: “If Mr. Ronald Jackson, the director of Jamaica's Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM), wanted a dramatic demonstration of the benefits of being prepared for a hurricane, he can safely choose the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) or The Bahamas for that matter.
“Pounded by 27 hours of flood rains and gusting 100 miles-per-hour winds from Hurricane Irene last week Tuesday and Wednesday, the multiple island nations – in particular, TCI which was the worst hit – were a textbook example of staving off the horrors of one of nature's worst beasts.
“Instead, having to confront a trail of disaster, the [Turks and Caicos] islands can take much satisfaction from the fruits of preparedness and effective teamwork which helped to mitigate the effects of the hurricane, proving that any disaster can be made into a triumph when a nation works together in that indomitable spirit of the Caribbean.
“The same could be said of another archipelago, The Bahamas, which also took a severe battering from the category three hurricane.”
The editorial continued: “Disaster preparedness personnel and businessmen who have heavy investments in the two countries said they reaped the benefits of designing buildings to code specification and to minimize the effects of flooding, while suffering minimal structural damage.
“In some cases, anything that could be moved was tied down or taken indoors. Equipment that would be necessary for the recovery process after the storm, [was] readied and protected. As a result, the clean-up exercise began the minute the storm allowed.
“A day after the winds and rains abated it was difficult, but for photographic evidence, to tell that a major hurricane had struck the islands. It was testimony to the resolve of the government and people of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and The Bahamas, and a model for our disaster-prone Caribbean region.”
COMMENDABLE
The editorial further noted: “Both countries depend heavily on tourism and it was commendable to see staff from the hotels volunteering to ride out the storm with guests who could not or did not want to leave, knowing that their own homes could be flooded out or suffer structural damage.
“That is the spirit that should permeate the entire Caribbean, not only during the hurricane season which runs officially from June to November, but even when there is no disaster threatening.”
One of the editorial’s conclusions: “Had the TCI and The Bahamas not heeded their disaster preparedness offices, they might now be on hands and knees begging for assistance. Instead, they have set an example of how to tame one of nature's most furious beasts.
“Still, we are aware that many lives have been disrupted even if none was lost. We are therefore pleased to hear that the U.S. Agency for International Development's Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance is working with Jamaica's ODPEM and other Caribbean disaster-response agencies to conduct aerial reconnaissance of damage to The Bahama islands.
“The mission will focus on the worst-hit islands, enabling participating agencies to assess damage and plan relief operations.”
The preparedness and response of which the editorial spoke were not perfect. By example, the Bahamas Information Services could have performed better in supplying a more consistent and comprehensive flow of information to the public and the media during and after Irene.
But in the main, officials met the challenge of responding to significant and diverse emergency needs and services across our far-flung archipelago as quickly as possible. Understandably, some were frustrated by a lack of electricity and water, especially in various Family Island communities.
Likewise, officials in a number of states in the United States have been similarly challenged by a massive hurricane that affected millions from the Caribbean to New England.
These states had at their disposal the massive resources of the U.S. federal government; assistance from other states which could be transported by road; and help from as close as Quebec and as far away as British Columbia in Canada. Yet many residents in these states are still without electricity and water.
Hurricane preparedness revolves around a complex set of issues and readiness mechanisms many of which Hubert Ingraham has addressed, though few of which his dogged detractors will admit. He continues to advance environmental initiatives from wetland protection to land and town-planning that will mitigate the impact of hurricanes.
COMICAL
It was the Ingraham administration that created the National Emergency Management Agency in the first place. And, it is building a permanent state-of-the-art facility for NEMA while continuing to improve the country’s capacity for national emergencies. Christie would be thought less comical and more credible had he done as much for emergency management as has Ingraham.
The Ingraham administration’s hurricane preparedness efforts include another component of which the opposition and the inveterate complainers have criticized for diverse reasons. That component is the ambitious and comprehensive New Providence roadwork -- much of which is nearing completion.
Perry Christie doesn’t hate Hubert Ingraham; he simply wants his job. But the Ingraham-haters do dislike the man. Yet, both connive, often unwittingly, to deny the prime minister of achievements plain for all to see. Christie can’t give Ingraham credit because it doesn’t suit his political interests. The Ingraham haters can’t because hate renders one blind and incapable of reasonableness.
The massive New Providence road corridor project that is helping to transform and modernize New Providence will place more utilities underground, better securing them from future hurricanes. The project will also help significantly to mitigate flooding because of an extensive new drainage system. The complainers are incapable of admitting as much.
Before Irene, Prime Minister Ingraham took to the airwaves warning of the potential impact of the hurricane. Fortuitously, there was no loss of life due to the actions of citizens as well as public officials including the prime minister whose quick action may have helped to save lives and avoid injury.
Ingraham also quickly reported to the nation in the aftermath of Irene after initial assessments and his immediate visits to affected Family Island communities. In his long-term efforts in disaster preparedness and the rapid response to Irene, the prime minister has demonstrated a comprehensive approach to disaster management.
In a twist on a well-known parable, had Ingraham walked on water to deliver emergency supplies in the wake of Irene, his critics, for political or other reasons, would have lambasted him for not coming by boat or helicopter; except, of course, the MP for MICAL, who would have insisted on an airplane even to communities with no airstrip.
Sep 06, 2011
