Over 90 primary school students from across the island are taking part in the tenth annual Children’s Library Annual Summer Program (CLASP) conducted by the Anguilla Public Library under the theme “We Ready, We Safe.” The theme aims to sensitize children to ways of handling various disasters and encourages a “sense of readiness…for any challenges they may encounter.”

Participants at summer programme

The two-week camp began on July 13 and is being held during the morning at the Library and Campus B of the Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School. Children ages 5 to 13 are engaged in story telling exercises, disaster preparedness sessions, games, quizzes and craft, as well as songs and talks.

Other activities include field trips to the Emergency Operations Centre and to Sandy Ground for Boating Safety and First Aid with the Junior Red Cross.

The program is divided by age into four groups: the Ever Ready Squad (ages 5 and 6 years), the Preparedness Posse (ages 7 and 8), the Careful Crew (ages 9 and 10) and the Vigilant Vigils (ages 11 to 13). Teen trainers, consisting of past participants, assist with the program.

Reference Librarian and Program Coordinator Jane Grell explained that the CLASP project was part of an OECS Natural Resources Management Unit initiative in the late 1980’s. She said the initial aim was to use the Libraries’ work with children as a vehicle for environmental awareness. She pointed out that the umbrella theme was “Our Country, Our People, Our Future” and each year the theme focused on an area of the national heritage.

Grell commented that over the years the children enjoyed the program. She noted that it was a time to look at information resources that were available locally. She stressed that, although the library was associated with books and papers, it dealt with any source of information including talking with people. “When we were doing water, for example, we talked to some of the older people and we get some of the experiences during floods and hurricanes…,” she said, “so it’s an opportunity for children to learn more about the space they occupy.”
Ms. Grell expressed her gratitude to the overall facilitator, Master Story Teller, Poet and Writer, Ms. A-dziko Simba; and to the sponsors of the program: Sunset Homes, Caribbean Commercial Bank (CCB), National Bank of Anguilla (NBA), the Anguilla Electricity Company (ANGLEC), First Caribbean International Bank (FCIB), Social Security and the Anguilla Craft Group.

National Emergency Centre Hosts CLASP

Participants at summer programme

CLASP participants visited the National Emergency Operations Centre at the Headquarters of the Royal Anguilla Police Force last week for a first hand introduction to Anguilla’s response system.

The visit took place on Wednesday July 15 and students were shown the equipment used in a disaster or emergency and advised about the procedures that would be taken in the event of an emergency.

Director of Disaster Management at the Department of Disaster Management, Elizabeth Klute, informed the media that “all hazards and all disasters” were the basis of the two-week program that was kicked off with the recent Safety Fair and National Hurricane Exercise.

Klute said the touring students were banded into four age-groups. They visited the Communications Room where they were introduced to the Communications Officer and Ham Radio Operator before they were shown how the radios worked. The students were also shown how storms and other emergency events are monitored.

The Operations Room where, according to Klute, “the guts of everything occurs,” was also exposed to the young visitors. She explained the various responsibilities of the group of personnel who occupy the room such as the Emergency Management Group which comprise the Deputy Governor, the Public Information Officer and her team; the Head of the Governors Office (who is responsible for coordination with international aid and international press); and the Finance Group (responsible for legal and contracting issues). Together these are known as the Logistics Group.

The largest group in the Operations Room is Support Services, that controls Field Operations. It comprises Shelter Operations, Relief Operations and Damage Assessment Needs Analysis. Ms. Klute pointed out that this group was a liaison for the Fire Department, Search and Rescue, Police and Security. She said, “Support Services talks to the field and finds out what’s needed and then Logistics facilitates in getting those things.”

The Planning and Intelligence Group justifies the operations of the Room and engages in GIS mapping, situation status reporting and the monitoring of weather in any type of emergency. This mitigates against further incidents during an emergency.

Klute said the various groups in the Operations Room coordinate, collect and share information “to help us get back on our feet as quickly as possible, [and to] get the resources that we need in order to do that.”

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