NEMO, UNICEF Join Forces to Strengthen Emergency Shelters

NEMO and UNICEF are partnering to support stronger shelter management improved facilities and preparedness. This morning both organizations came together at an event in Belmopan to solidify the partnership which will see improved access to shelters for children and differently abled persons. We spoke with Minister of Disaster Risk Management, Henry Charles Usher, as well as NEMO and UNICEF representatives.

 

Henry Charles Usher, Minister of Disaster Risk Management

“Number one was an investment in infrastructure, investment in the shelters, improving, renovating, making sure the shelters are accessible for people with vulnerabilities. So it was an investment in infrastructure. Number two, was an investment in people. There was a new shelter management course that has been ongoing with public officers, making sure they able to properly manage, open, report, whenever they need to go into a shelter. 00:27

 

Sajid Ali, UNICEF Representative, Belize

“UNICEF has been a key partner in working with NEMO and the ministry because we want to make sure the shelters in place are retrofitted and in good condition. And also, the dashboard, that people are aware of the shelters, not looking for the shelters during the time of disasters, but to be aware of them even before and on the NEMO website you can see it is very easy to see where they are.”

 

Daniel Mendez, National Coordinator, NEMO

“The partnership is looking at hwo we can continue to strenghten what we are doing. We are always looking for partners. We are always looking for new ways of ensuring we are reaching the most vulnerable persons in our society. We are always looking at improving our services to the public. So our engagement with UNICEF has been child focus. Across the world is has been shown that children are among those most affected by disasters.”

 

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

Watch the full newscast here: