Funding concerns for disaster management – NEMO Director

St Vincent and the Grenadines’ disaster management systems have come under heavy pressure in recent years, according to Director of the National Emergency Management Organization (NEMO), Michelle Forbes, who has expressed concerns about a possible funding source being cut off following the election of President Donald Trump.

NEMO, along with National Security officials and regional disaster management convened a four day National After Action Review (AAR) meeting with the aim of developing recommendations coming out of Hurricane Beryl which hit St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) on July 1, 2024.

The purpose of the After Action Review is to assess the overall response to Hurricane Beryl, identify areas for improvement, and strengthen the St. Vincent and the Grenadines disaster management system for future events.

Forbes said she believes that the early warning coordination for the country before Beryl hit was “well-executed”. She credited this to an investment in human resources and monitoring equipment.

She, however, admitted to being worried about SVG being able to mount disaster management initiatives after it was announced that President Trump signed an executive order which saw The United States Agency for International Development (USAid) funding being frozen and leading to humanitarian aid efforts hanging in limbo. USAID is considered to be the world’s largest single donor, and fund programmes in more than 60 countries internationally.

The freeze is expected to be reviewed after 90 days and Forbes, in her opening remarks said the development is troubling.

“It really is a challenging time for us now with the withdrawing of funding for some of the agencies…when I heard that USAID funding is stopped I wondered how that is going to affect us,” Forbes said.

“It means then that we have to depend on local financing and disaster financing strategies to advance disaster management and rebuild our countries. The funding is drying up…”

She revealed that USAID funded a number of education initiatives under NEMO’s mandate and future funding is in the dark.

“I sat down and looked at USAID funding, all our tsunami funding, and several of our signs blew down during hurricane Beryl. We were looking at having a workshop in March in terms of the different alert levels…now all of that is gone.”

Forbes said that there has been a significant increase in the funding poured into NEMO over the years, with natural disasters and medical crises emerging and affecting the region. She said the annual budget, which moved from $400,000 to $1.4 million “shows that we are growing”.

Forbes said the impact of Hurricane Beryl highlights the fact that disaster management should not be “centralized”.

She added that she hopes the recommendations coming out of the week-long conference will be “well-received” by stakeholders.

The conference, which opened yesterday, February 10, 2025, is being held at the Holiday Inn Express at Diamond Estate. It runs from February 10 to 12, and again on February 14. The main focus for the first three days is on the assessment of the overall response and recommendations for improvement which will feed into the development of the Consolidated Plan of Action which will be presented on the 14th to key decision makers.