“You Are NEMO”: Orange Walk Rural Gets 23 New CERT First Responders

Twenty-three residents from San Antonio and Santa Cruz villages, Orange Walk, graduated on Thursday as part of Belize’s second cohort of Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) members. These new first responders are trained to act before professional responders arrive during emergencies.

Participants were trained in disaster preparedness, first aid, fire safety, light search and rescue, emergency communications and damage assessment.

“This project intentionally brought together representatives from the education and health sectors, village councils, youth, and other community members, recognising that resilience requires the participation of the entire community,” said Andrea Grosvenor, Business Development Manager at the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA).

The programme’s rollout is part of building stronger communities, according to National Emergency Coordinator Daniel Mendez. He told graduates, “Community resilience starts here at the community where you are going to be able to help each other first before help arrives… It demanded discipline; it demanded teamwork, and it demanded courage,” Mendez said. “Remember that you are NEMO.”

San Antonio Village Chairman Abdiel Teyul spoke on behalf of the graduates, saying the twin communities are now better positioned to respond when floods, hurricanes and other emergencies occur. “Remember to always serve with empathy, with the safety of lives as a priority,” he added.

Each graduate received a personal emergency response kit, while the San Antonio and Santa Cruz Village Councils received equipment to strengthen their disaster coordination capacity.

The National Emergency Management Organization ran the programme with technical support from the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency, funded by the European Union under the BRICS programme.

NEMO’s first graduating CERT class was Toledo’s cohort last year.