One important element of their preparations that's still up in the air is a location for the City's Emergency Operating Center.
If a hurricane should hit, CEMO personnel and other emergency officials will need a location to safely operate from. According to the mayor, he's been having difficulties in getting the Belize Civic Center, or another suitable public building to be designated as the EOC. Today, he called on the UDP Government to be more cooperative about this very serious issue:
Mayor Bernard Wagner - Chairman, CEMO EOC
"The Emergency Operations Center, and we are continuing to make arrangements for the setting up of its operation headquarters for this Hurricane season at the Belize City Center Sporting Complex."
"We are still facing challenges there, obviously. We met with the NEMO coordinator, and he had indicated to us that if CEMO request that we use the Belize Civic Center, so it will be. So, yesterday, I forwarded a letter to the NEMO coordinator to address that matter. We have had some challenges there. First, we were kicked out of the Charles Bartlett building, actually, and then sent to ITVET. ITVET, again, after inspection, we found that it was not worthy. It probably could not withstand any sort of hurricane damages. We were forwarded, then, the Gateway Center, but again, the CEMO group felt that this Gateway Center could not - did not meet our standards. So, we are aim our efforts that the headquarters of the EOC will be at the Belize Civic Center. I hoping that for the love of the city, for the love of the city residents, that intelligence again will continue to prevail, and that we look for the residents of the city, that we stop play politics. Elections are over. We need to look out and care for our city residents, especially in an emergency. We cannot, at any times, be playing games. Disaster, we should demonstrate color blindness."
Councillor Michael Noralez told us that he and representatives of the council have already met with Apex Belize, the Managers of the Civic, who have expressed verbally that if City Hall needs to use the Civic as their EOC, it will be made available to them. They are hoping for a written commitment, so that they can move on and focus on other arrangements.
Email
Print