MCINTYRE: I WOULD WANT TO REASSURE OUR PUBLIC THAT THEY SHOULD NOT PRESSURE THE AGENCY IN RELEASING SHELTERS.

NaDMA Coordinator Sylvan McIntyre making the announcement during a news Conference at the agency’s head office at Fort Frederick’s is also asking persons to exercise patience. “We are hoping very soon to release the names of those buildings” McIntyre said.

“But I would want to reassure our public that they should not pressure the agency in releasing shelters. We are going to be doing it”.
At the start of each Hurricane season, knowing the list of shelters has become a top priority for many, following widespread destruction caused by Hurricane Ivan nearly three years ago.
However, McIntyre says the absence of an adequate shelter management structure has often contributed to the delay in releasing the list.

“They are buildings and they are places that are available and can be used for shelters. They are some issues internally that we want to deal with such as the aspect of management “ he said.

“We want to ensure that a management structure is put in place to deal with that. And that has been one of our challenges over the years and that is the reason why we do not release the buildings earlier”.

The number of buildings used as hurricane shelters has been on the increase since before 2004 when Ivan destroyed most of the 45 shelters identified. In 2005, in excess of 50 buildings were identified as shelters while last year there has been another increase.

At the moment, 65 buildings have been identified for shelter use. “They are facilities available. If there is a hurricane tomorrow we are sure that they are some facilities that people can use and so we are continuing to increase those facilities” Mc Intyre said.
“We would be speaking next week more about shelters but I can tell you at this stage that we can mark with strides our levels of preparedness in terms of our improvement over the years”.

A set of Shelter upgrade recommendations are about to go before cabinet to equip buildings with relevant facilities such as bathrooms, toilets and kitchenette.