The Disaster Unit of the St. Catherine Municipal Corporation addresses all aspects of Man-made and natural disasters such as Earthquake, Fire, Flood, Hurricane, and Freak Storm.
The Unit is responsible for monitoring disaster within the parish, preparing Parish Disaster Plan and ensuring public education such as shelters for the public, disaster prone areas, educating the public on precautionary measures for disasters, conducting simulation exercises and establishes emergency shelter for mass care relief
The Parish Disaster Committee meets at quarterly intervals or as considered necessary by the Chairman.
This Unit communicates all plans or revisions to the ODPEM and develop programmes for the rehabilitation of disaster victims. Also they ensure plans exist for taking care of special groups (physically challenged, aged, etc.) and institutionalized population in an emergency. They formulate a system for the equitable distribution of critical food items arriving into the Island after a disaster and a policy for pricing these goods. The Unit even assist in preparing, participating in and assessing joint annual exercises with all response services of the NEO, and submit after action reports to the ODPEM.
Purpose of Parish Disaster Committee
- To strengthen the disaster response capability of the Parish.
- To develop the local response mechanism within the framework of the National Disaster Committee.
- To sensitize and train community leaders to be resilient.
- Efficient planning, organization, direction and control processes aimed at risk analysis and risk reduction, adverse event management and post-disaster recovery.
Vision of Disaster Unit
A modern pro-active unit, within the St. Catherine Municipal Corporation promoting a Disaster resilient Parish”
Mission of Disaster Unit
The Disaster Unit is committed to leading the process of reducing the impact of disasters on life, property and the environment through Comprehensive Disaster Management.”