Workshop on Preparedness Brings Business, Government Together

(TNS) - Individuals from the business community and the public sector came together Wednesday to discuss potential threats to the territory and disaster preparedness strategies.
“This was just the starting point. Now we’ve got to really keep the momentum going and move forward and do more of these types of things,” said Todd Patton, deputy director for planning and preparedness for the V.I. Territorial Emergency Management Agency.

Tropical Shipping partnered with VITEMA, Caribbean-Central American Action and the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association in coordinating workshops at the Marriott’s Frenchman’s Reef Beach Resort. A similar workshop took place on St. Croix on Tuesday.

Tropical Shipping’s Chief Executive Officer Rick Murrell said when Hurricane Hugo hit in 1989, the public and private sectors lacked communication, particularly on St. Croix.

Since then, Murrell said he wanted to improve collaboration between agencies responsible for disaster preparedness and relief, and Tropical Shipping has hosted several such workshops a year in various locations, mostly in the Caribbean.

“Everybody’s very busy, so this here really today is to try to ensure there are no barriers to communication,” Murrell said. “If you don’t know who to call you can be locked in paralysis.”

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