A team of firemen from the Barbados Fire Service left the island on Tuesday for Dominica to render much-needed assistance to the country that was devastated by Hurricane Maria late Monday.
Chief Fire Officer, Errol Maynard, confirmed that four teams were mobilized following an emergency meeting at the Bridgetown Fire Station on Tuesday morning and the teams will be rotated in the island over the next six weeks.
He noted that all off-duty personnel have been called into action to maintain numbers locally.
First relief team
Maynard said the first team would include a commanding officer and six fire officers who were emergency management technicians and rescue personnel, to provide assistance to the country in those areas.
In addition, a four-man team is expected to be deployed to render assistance in Tortola in the British Virgin Islands on Wednesday.
The rescue effort was being coordinated through the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA).
Barbados Defense Force
Meanwhile, the Barbados Defense Force (BDF) is deploying a contingent to assist the Commonwealth of Dominica in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.
This disclosure has come from the BDF’s Public Relations Officer, Captain Maria Moore, who said humanitarian assistance and disaster relief would be provided to the island.
The BDF contingent is expected to be deployed within the next 12 hours aboard the HMBS Leonard C. Banfield.
Barbados is the hub
Meanwhile, CDEMA’s Executive Director, Ronald Jackson on Tuesday said Barbados will be the hub for the Dominica disaster response. He added that units will also be deployed from St Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines.
It is expected that the Coast Guard vessel will arrive by 6 a.m. Wednesday morning and it will also be taking supplies from Barbados to Dominica, which, Jackson said, had depleted its own reserves while assisting sister islands affected by Hurricane Irma earlier this month. He explained Dominica has an immediate need for supplies to begin its national response to the disaster.
Jackson said based on the geography of Dominica, the rescue and relief operations will be “extremely complex.” He said disaster officials are anticipating a series of landslides and rockfalls all over Dominica which, he said, will make access very difficult via road or foot.
CDEMA was, however, able to confirm, through amateur radio contact with Dominica in the early afternoon, severe damage to Marigot on the northeastern side of the island.
Entire population of Dominica
According to Jackson, the entire population of Dominica, some 69 – 70,000 people, would face direct or indirect impacts from the hurricane, in terms of shelter, access or relief distribution.
Late Monday Dominica’s Prime Minister, Roosevelt Skerrit, who had earlier reported that he had to be “rescued’ from his own residence, said in a Whatsapp message relayed by Senior Counsel Anthony Astaphan that the world must know of the devastation to the island.
