The Department of Emergency Management (DEM) in partnership with the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Community Empowerment, and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), have joined forces to bring wider disaster awareness and preparedness to youth.
The Youth In Disaster Expo, held at the Queen’s Park Steel Shed on Tuesday, saw a number of stakeholders from the Barbados Fire Service, Ministry of Youth, Amateur Radio Society, Red Cross, and other partners, educating children on the importance of being ready in the event of an emergency.
Speaking to the media briefly during the launch, DEM director Kerry Hinds said that targeting young people was a key step in preparing the country for any eventuality.
“The idea was to ensure that we encourage youth awareness [and] participation in disaster risk management. As you know, [the youth] are our future, and it is very important that they understand what hazards are, the hazards and disasters that can affect them at any point in time, and to really raise awareness among their friends and their family,” she said.
“So we pulled together this particular initiative where we went into the National Summer Camps, about 13 or so, along with the National Council for Substance Abuse residential camp. It was really important to engender that sense of ownership among young people – from as young as five years old, all the way up to 24, 26 years old.”
Disaster risk management specialist at USAID, Tamara Lovell added that the youth must always be at the forefront of issues that directly affect them.
“We aim to embody the concept that we do nothing for the youth without the youth. So, I have no doubt that the intended outcomes from this initiative will be realised and sustained as we are ensuring that we keep youth at the centre of what we do,” she said.
Five summer camps took part in Tuesday’s symposium and it is hoped that the project can be expanded in 2024. (SB)
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