BELIZE GOVERNMENT HOLDS PRACTICAL DISASTER PREPAREDNESS EXCERCISE

BELIZE DEPARTMENT BUREAUCRATS HOLD DISASTER REAL LIFE PRACTICE EXERCISES IN WESTERN BELIZE.


Belize government bureaucracies were having real time, physical life drills today, trying to put into practice the paper bureaucratic plans for disaster awaredness. As they say, in real life things don't work often the way you plan. This was for the CAYO district out Western Belize, covering; Dam break, floods and earthquake preparedness.

The new video on the news tonight was really funny. They supposedly had a fat lady in a flood, and a narrow racing canoe was speeding to her rescue. She was wearing a floatation collar. The emergency people were trying to get this supposedly drowning lady in a flood, safe ashore. They were unable to load her in the canoe. I myself thought, as the two canoeists tried manoeuvring a canoe in the river and neither of them were able to co-ordinate the direction of the canoe, while the lady was waving her arms and "drowning". They were circling around her, but couldn't reach her. I laughed my head off ! Then they got alongside. No way I thought, are they going to load somebody over that side of a narrow racing canoe without tipping everybody in the water. So some shore side people waded into the water. Turned out the water was shallow and they were standing in knee deep water. They heaved and puffed, lifted and swore standing on the gravel river bottom, and finally got her into the canoe without tipping it. Had a hell of a time trying to carry her up the river bank though without her touching the ground. If that had been deep water and a real flood, they would have held her to the side of the canoe and paddled ashore. Unfortunately neither of the two bureaucrats in the canoe knew how to paddle a canoe properly. Hilarious ! Fine entertainment.
If the rest of the government bureaucratic exercises went like that, they are going to need a lot of remedial practice, before any disaster preparedness plan is even slightly workable.