BEING doubly prepared is the goal of the local authorities, which have recently hired an experienced emergency official to head their new National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).

At a panel discussion at the Grand Cayman Marriott Resort last week, Co-Chairperson of the National Hurricane Committee (NHC), Angela Martins, announced the appointment of Dr Barbara Carby.

Mrs Martins told the hurricane meeting, which was tailored to the business community, that Dr Carby had recently become Director of NEMA in the Cayman Islands. 

Dr Carby held the post of Director General of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) in Jamaica before coming to the Island to head the new body.

McCleary Frederick has been assigned the title of Deputy Director of NEMA and work alongside the experienced Jamaican disaster preparedness official, according to Mrs Martins. 

The Cayman Islands Government last week launched its 2006 National Hurricane Plan with to cover all three Islands - Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman.

Leader of Government Business, Hon. Kurt Tibbetts, told the 10 July meeting that NEMA would draw up a national emergency plan to cover natural and man-made disasters.

Mr Tibbetts said the new organisation would provide expertise on disaster mitigation and on revamping building codes, increased seaside setbacks and designing flood prone zones.

He explained that NEMA and the NHC would operate as two separate Government agencies and would have distinct roles in disaster preparedness and mitigation in the Islands. 

NEMA, according to the Leader of Government Business, will be officially launched soon.

Mrs Martins, in unveiling some aspects of the document, told the private sector body that it was simply not good enough to just have a hurricane or disaster plan. 

"We must treat it (the hurricane plan) as an ongoing instrument that we test to ensure just how practical the plan is in terms of its responsiveness and its robustness," she said.

"We work to execute those plans, ensuring that we deliver services on a timely basis, on an aggressive basis in response to the realities of the jurisdiction."

Mrs Martins heads the Joint Communications Service subcommittee comprising representatives from the Department of Tourism, Ministry of Finance, Government Information Service and Government public relations officers.

She said that Government intends to carefully manage the dissemination of information during and after a disaster in the Cayman Islands. 

She explained that a core team of the Joint Communications Services would agree on the message point, which will be approved by H.E the Governor Stuart Jack before dissemination takes place.

"A very comprehensive management of voice of the destination, a very comprehensive management of the message of the destination, ensuring that we provide a message that is fair, that is factual," she said.

Mrs Martins, who is the Permanent Secretary for Education, urged the private sector to use the approved message points as the information to provide to any sources overseas.

The same message points, she said, would be posted on the regularly updated Government websites www.gov.ky and www.caymanprepared.ky.

Both websites would have back up mechanisms in Caymac Brac in the event that Grand Cayman is struck by a storm and its systems are affected. 

Government plans to mount an "aggressive response" in the provision of information to local and overseas media if any of the Islands are hit by a hurricane, the official said. 

According to her, the Island's leaders want to "ensure that messages are managed well and communicate the circumstances as they are present in the jurisdiction".

"We're very sensitive that the material that goes externally is very different than material that goes locally," she said.

"The kinds of issues that will concern someone locally are not the kinds of issues we necessarily will be presenting in the tourism market or the finance market."

She added that: "The approved message points will ensure full coverage to our international stakeholders to the jurisdiction is properly represented in the best light possible."

The NHC Co-Chair said that policy would ensure support for the Island's economic continuity and would portray an "honest" state of the jurisdiction.

"In September 2004, Hurricane Ivan caused extensive damage to Grand Cayman, leaving many islanders homeless and helpless for several weeks.