by CAROL MARTINDALE

BARBADOS does not have an adequate supply of shelters should we be hit with a grave national disaster.

And, the existing ones are not purpose-built and can only hold a maximum of about 20 000 people.

This was the picture painted by emergency management consultant Roy Ward who told the SUNDAY SUN that for a population the size of Barbados, there were not enough shelters.

He said the majority of shelters were schools, which were not built with the required specifications to protect against hurricanes and other disasters.

While director of the Department of Emergency Management (DEM), Judy Thomas, has acknowledged that shelters were not purpose-built, but she says measures are in place to ensure the best facilities are used to house the most vulnerable in the wake of disaster.

She said there were a framework and criteria in place that earmarked those schools, community centres and churches that operated as shelters.

Thomas said they were teams now out in the field reviewing the status of shelters.

"We have a team looking at those in Category 1; and for those in Categories 2 and 3 we are trying to source an engineering company to review them and see if they can be boosted to Category 1," she told the SUNDAY SUN last night.

Thomas said all this would ensure the new shelter book for Barbados would be informed by a thorough walk-through of facilities with up-to-date information, including the total numbers shelters could house.

Hurricane plan

She also revealed the Government's plan was to build more community centres which would be hurricane resistent.

Ward said the schools used were not built to withstand 135-mile-per-hour hurricane winds or storm surge.

"Structurally they are strong, but a building has to be in a position where it can withstand a certain amount of windforce," he said.

He also said there were certain specifications that would categorise buildings as shelters.

They must be far enough away from the shoreline that they would not be impacted by storm surge or sea intrusion of some kind.

They must not be constructed in a flood plain so they are not affected by flash flooding due to rain.

And if they are going to be in an area affected by storm surge or by rainwater, they have to be high enough off the ground so people can still survive.

With today being the start of this year's hurricane season, Ward also urged families not to wait until the last minute to prepare.

"We have a scramble mentality. Disasters bring out the best of scramblers and everybody rushes into supermarkets last minute," he said.

Ward said more attention was also needed to be paid to the elderly and the disabled.

The DEM director said, however, there were plans to deal comprehensively with special groups in society.

carolmartindale

@nationnews.com

Please see Pages 13Aand 14A.