Cayman must plan better for hurricane season 2005

James Lee Witt, Chairman of James Lee Witt
Associates (left) and Cayman Captive Forum 2004
delegate

(left to right) Seamus Tivnan, Chairman Insurance
Managers of Cayman (IMAC), Mark Merritt, Senior Vice
President of James Lee Witt & Associates, James Lee
Witt, Chairman of James Lee Witt Associates, Dan
MacLean, Vice President IMAC

Wednesday,  December 15, 2004

As a closing speaker of the keynote address at the Cayman Captive Forum 2004 they do not come any more topical than James Lee Witt. As Chairman of James Lee Witt Associates, the disaster recovery experts charged with assisting the Government to help get the Cayman Islands back on its feet after Hurricane Ivan, and also former Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Mr Witt was in the perfect position to give an insight into the recovery process to date.

Mr Witt began in broad terms, warning that industry faces more threatening events now, and with global warming this includes more natural disasters, than in any other century.

During his time as FEMA, Mr Witt said that he promoted an environment that fostered public and private partnerships to mitigate or even prevent destruction caused by disasters.

In the event of a disaster, he said that it was critical for countries to be able to manage and co-ordinate the after effects, and most importantly, to manage people’s expectations when it comes to needing the basics, such as water, shelter, housing etc.

Mr Witt said: “More training, planning, risk analysis and preparedness need to take place, but all this action cannot be undertaken in a vacuum and needs to be conducted in an environment that promotes public/private partnerships.”

Focusing specifically on how Cayman has coped with the aftermath of Hurricane Ivan, Mr Witt said that he commended Mark Scotland, Cayman Islands Recovery Operations (CIRO) Manager, and his team for doing a great job in disaster recovery, including removing debris and organising temporary housing.

CIRO is working closely with James Lee Witt & Associates, and Mr Witt said that he hoped CIRO would soon be trained by his Company to be able to handle the reconstruction efforts by themselves in future.

Calling for a separate Government agency in Cayman to deal specifically with emergency management, Mr Witt said that Government should allocate an emergency management director with systems in place with response capability and a command structure to manage responses. He went on to say that if the recovery effort was prolonged, with no agency in Government taking specific responsibility, economic losses to the country would increase.

Mr Witt called for Cayman to conduct a thorough examination of emergency management and contingency planning, citing as an example Cayman’s reliance as an Island nation on the Miami ports as a means of bringing in resources and materials. He said that contingency plans should be in place as these ports were themselves hit by the hurricanes that devastated Florida in August and September of this year.

He also called on the audience to think on a more local level and minimise risks at home. He said: “If homes aree built to better standards they become less of a burden to the system with less claims to be made.”

Mark Merritt, Senior Vice President of James Lee Witt & Associates has been the company’s ‘man on the ground’ based in Cayman since they were first requested by Government to assist with the reconstruction process.

He said: “Coming to Cayman I witnessed the worst devastation that I had ever seen in 12 years, but the Caymanian people are committed to coming back and I am sure they will build Cayman stronger than ever. I commend the Caymanian people for their resilience.”

Mr Merritt went on to say that he also commended the Cayman Islands Government for admitting they could have done better in some aspects of the response and recovery process, making it a lot easier to improve methods for future responses.

He said that the Cayman Islands Government is extremely small compared to the US Government and that Cayman must be careful and deliberate with respect to how it spends its money after Ivan. He said that Cayman’s Government realised that it only has six months before hurricane season starts again and that it would be ready for it and certainly more prepared than before. 

Mr Merritt concluded that Cayman’s private sector has made a huge impact in the recovery process, stating: “Usually it is Government that takes the lead, dragging the private sector along with it in terms of recovery efforts, but here in Cayman the private sector has taken the lead, with Cayman Airways rising to the challenge and evacuating thousands of people, undoubtedly saving lives, and the Cayman Islands Chamber of Commerce leading the way of the clean up process.”

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