IN A STRANGE convergence of circumstances, within a few hours of the announcement of the Jamaica Defence Force's hosting Exercise Tradewinds, a massive military exercise which includes training for mass evacuation, there was an early morning mishap aboard a cruise ship off the coast of Montego Bay with more than 3,800 passengers and crew.
Regrettably, one passenger died of a heart attack and several persons suffered from smoke inhalation. Fortunately, the fire aboard the Star Princess cruise liner, en route from Grand Cayman to Montego Bay, was quickly contained. But the incident has helped to throw into sharp focus the necessity of being prepared for the worst, even those that happen once in a blue moon. We can take some comfort in the fact that the army, supported by United Kingdom armed forces and 13 other regional countries, are preparing for the worst-case scenarios during the Cricket World Cup 2007.
However, as yesterday's events demonstrated, accidents requiring massive mobilisation of personnel and resources won't wait for us to be prepared. Nor should we have to depend on overseas personnel to help boost the most basic of emergency services. The terrible state of the local fire services has long been a contentious issue which must be addressed.
We should therefore breathe a collective sigh of relief that the lives of the passengers and crew aboard the ship were not so endangered as to require emergency treatment and/or transport to onshore medical services on a grand scale. But we are sure in the time-honoured tradition of being prepared, the army personnel and the Office of Disaster Preparedness will have been given much to consider out of yesterday's scenario.
The implications for our emergency services in the event of any
incident requiring mass movement of personnel is indeed cause for concern. Most of the equipment being used by our emergency services is decrepit, to put it mildly. Depending on the extent of the crisis, the pressures that would be put on our hospitals, medical personnel, transportation network and fire services are almost unimaginable.
The help being provided by the United States and United Kingdom armed forces should help us to be better prepared to manage emergencies during the Cricket World Cup. But after the cricket festival, what next? And, more importantly, how prepared are we ahead of those games? The timing of disasters - man-made and natural - are unpredictable, so we must be prepared at all times.
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