At the start of the hurricane season, those “June to November” commercials and public advisories on disaster preparedness may get tiring and redundant. But NEMO Minister Edmond Castro and his team say there can never be too much information when it comes to protecting lives during emergencies. So today the National Met Office and US-AID among other partners launched what’s called the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP). It is a system that will get more information out to the public in a timelier manner. Here is more from the jump- start CAP workshop.
Hon. Edmond Castro - NEMO Minister
"It is basically an alert system. It's a system that will enhance our ability to inform out people nationwide throughout the country especially the most vulnerable. Io I think it is about time that we here in Belize get on-board in this world alert system and we will be able to improve on what we already been doing in our country."
Courtney Weatherburne
"How will this protocol actually work? Like what's the actual framework when it comes to these disasters?"
Hon. Edmond Castro
"It’s a basic system I believe. I am not in the training, it’s a basic system that will use all the media, whether its television, whether its radio, cell phone - so the cell phone companies will be a part of it, BTL and Smart. If we need to put out a nation alert of any kind, it will pause on your cell phone or the television program that you are watching and let you know exactly what is going on, what’s the whole reason for putting a pause on your cell phone call or whatever it is."
It is a two day workshop. Participants include government departments, Red Cross, the BDF, the fire department among others.
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