CARICOM Chairman, Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell, yesterday called on the region to re-think the “whole process” for dealing with the aftermath of a natural disaster.
Mitchell, along with CARICOM Secretary General Irwin la Rocque and the president of the Barbados-based Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), Dr. Warren Smith, toured several areas devastated by Hurricane Maria when it slammed into Dominica last Monday, killing at least 27 people and causing widespread destruction estimated at billions of dollars.
“What happens after a natural disaster? We must re-think in my view the whole process. How do we integrate the efforts of the private sector or financial institutions, governments and all institutions in a post if disaster event.
“I still believe that we are literally doing guess work with not sufficient integration in the process. I believe this whole thing tells us there must be deeper planning and Secretary General it seems to me that one of major issues for Caribbean heads is how do we prepare appropriate,” Mitchell told a news conference.
He said that given the situation where the Caribbean has been hit by several hurricanes in the recent past, it is not now a question of if, but when.
“A lot of the things Dominica is going through today, probably should not have to go through it. There should almost be a system that takes off automatically. I am convinced that we have to do more than we have done,” he told reporters in the presence of Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit.
