The Tribune

THE country needs a national mass fatality plan.

That was the recommendation of a local pathologist, Dr Kiko Bridgewater, at the Coroner’s Court yesterday amid the ongoing inquest in the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian.

The plan would allow the country to better respond to natural crises – and the doctor should know. He was part of the response team after Dorian, and travelled to Abaco several times to examine the bodies of victims.

Those bodies were taken to a 40ft refrigerated trailer, where they were inspected. Dr Bridgewater said from the lessons learned that we need a faster, more organised response to natural disasters – and that we need a forensic morgue to be established, as well as a temporary body storage refrigeration unit.

A faster response would indeed be welcome – which begs the question why is none of this happening right now?

Hurricane Dorian hit Abaco and Grand Bahama in September 2019. Since then, we have had one full hurricane season last year and we’re headed toward the start of the hurricane season this year.

Why are we still talking about the lessons that we’ve learned instead of putting those lessons into practice?

Dr Bridgewater offers some excellent ideas – a number of which would need significant funding, so where is the budget allocated to improve our hurricane response effort?

If, heaven forbid, another storm the size of Hurricane Dorian comes our way this season, will we be even one bit better prepared than we were in 2019 to deal with the storm itself or its aftermath?

Will we again be loading bodies into a refrigerated trailer with all the lack of dignity that goes with that, and the fear of whether the bodies will be safely preserved?

Will we again leave families waiting for months on end for the identification of bodies so relatives can make peace with the outcome for their loved ones?

In today’s Tribune, you can read some of the personal stories told by relatives, such as the family whose father called to say he was seeking shelter in the roof but the water was rising, or the mother who said she was told her son’s body was in the trailer only to be left uncertain as to what happened to the body.

These are the horrors suffered by people on the ground in the midst of the storm or dealing with its terrible repercussions – and we cannot say this wouldn’t happen exactly the same way again.

It is one thing to learn lessons, it is another to act upon them – and we have waited too long to make changes already.

The next hurricane season is just over a month away – the time to act is long past, but every day we fail to do so is another day closer to disaster.

Parliament embarrassment

Yesterday, we said that the situation involving Parliament being shut down was a mess. In today’s Tribune, former Speaker Dr Kendal Major goes one step further and calls it “embarrassing”.

He’s right, of course. Our democracy deserves better than this.

Dr Major backed current Speaker Halson Moultrie, saying: “I thought the Speaker was correct in his frustration. I thought he was correct on principle. I think the result of his actions, though, was unfortunate. I think it was unfortunate that it had to have gotten to that point to shut down the House and conduct no business. I think that was grossly unfortunate and ought not to have happened in our democracy.”

It is unfortunate - and in truth, while we sympathise with Mr Moultrie for the situation he was faced with, it really should not have reached the stage where he shut down Parliament prematurely either - that was a step too far.

It shouldn’t have happened in the first place, of course. Mr Moultrie wrote to Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis and Renward Wells, the leader of government business, to warn them about the situation involving staff having been exposed to COVID-19. He got a one-word answer from Dr Minnis, “noted”, and not even that from Mr Wells.

Well done, Dr Major, for speaking up on the subject. It’s more than Dr Minnis and Mr Wells have done. Neither has given an explanation to the Bahamian people.

They should – and without delay – and this fiasco should never happen again.