Barbuda Council Member’s Hurricane Preparedness Concerns

With weather forecasters already predicting an extremely active hurricane season, concerns have been raised over the safety of those on the sister Isle of Barbuda.

Since Irma in 2017, several key buildings have yet to be fully refurbished.

One of those is the community centre, which has been used as a shelter in the past.

This, John Mussington, elected Council member and Chair of the Barbuda People’s Movement BPM, says, puts the people in a vulnerable position.

“For us here in Barbuda we are in a situation where we are going on seven years and have not recovered from the 2017 disaster and so, obviously, that has to be cause for concern with regards to facing the season every year since then.

“Definitely, there is a concern because we know things are not in place as, say, prior to 2017. We are just not back to where we are. The Community center next to me is only now being repaired in terms of the roof and you still have other structures in Barbuda that are just as how Irma left them and that is significant because if you have to face another hurricane with structures sitting like that, you know the amount of debris and other material which are going to be blown off which can cause harm to others,” Mussington explained earlier this week while speaking on Twin Island Media.