The Tribune

THE United States government is committed to helping The Bahamas prepare for future disasters.

US Major General Connie Jenkins, the director of logistics and engineering from the US Department of Defense’s Northern Command (USNORTHCOM), visited Nassau from Nov 15-18 to participate in a recognition ceremony of recently donated supplies.

Donated material included a field hospital, temporary shelters, communication equipment, transportable armories, generators, and flood-water rescue boats valued at approximately $5m. This equipment gives The Bahamas the ability to rapidly deploy necessary supplies from New Providence to the Family Islands for humanitarian and disaster response.

“One of the things that we focus extensively on with our partner nations is working on different avenues within logistics and engineering to make everyone more resilient, especially when it comes to things like crises, storms and climate issues,” said Maj Gen Jenkins.

During her visit, she discussed with Bahamian military leaders ways to address gender-related challenges and disparities in disaster response operations and humanitarian assistance. Both USNORTHCOM and the Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF) have made significant efforts to increase gender equity within their respective forces. As Major General Jenkins mentioned in her meetings with the RBDF and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), empowering women benefits everyone in a society: “The rising tide lifts all boats.”

The equipment donations represent half of the $10m USNORTHCOM has given The Bahamas in 2022 as part of theatre security cooperation efforts. During the pandemic, USNORTHCOM provided The Bahamas with diagnostic systems, ventilators, and ultra-low temperature freezers.

This assistance from the United States demonstrates its ongoing commitment to bolster The Bahamas’ disaster response and humanitarian assistance capabilities.