Sidney T. Sweeting, DDS
I will be the first to admit that we bloggers spend a lot of time criticising Government for their many failings but now that the hurricane has left I would like to tip my hat to them for the fantastic job they have done clearing the debris on the streets, getting most of the street lights working and electricity back up (at least for most homes and offices).
One sour note. Communication with the family islands is badly lacking and I seem to recall that NEMA promised some years ago to put satellite phones in place in each of the islands so we could at least get word from soneone on each island. For two days we heard nothing from Harbour Island, Abaco or Spanish Wells. That is just not good enough for 2011.
Rick:
I don’t know what NEMA may or may not have done, but most of the time these phones are given to some “Servant of the people” who does not know his A from his elbow and when an emergency arises they are at some bar partying or left the island.
What is needed is for responsible people who are Native to their particular island to be given these tools to communicate with central government.
During Irene in Abaco I am given to understand there was an individual who was on VHF radio giving out pertinent information to the residents. These are the kind of people who should have at their disposal any resources from NEMA or any other government agency.
The other issue here…the broadcasts on ZNS…
Their emergency broadcast protocols need to be reevaluated. They should have reporters on key spots on the islands to report on what is going on. In a crisis like a hurricane, they need to be on the air 24/7 giving pertinent and up to the minute information.
KM
Kent:
You are now talking about people who got their jobs because of their political back side kissing. It is past time to get rid of the millstones around tax payers neck and let private enterprise run all of the government corporations, ZNS, BEC, Water & Sewerage, Bahamasair just to name a few.