Disaster Preparedness
About Hazard Management Cayman Islands
Hazard Management Cayman Islands (HMCI) is the lead agency responsible for National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) and the national comprehensive disaster management programme in the Cayman Islands. They are the coordinating agency for all hazards and are the custodians of the National Hazard Management Plan for the Cayman Islands. HMCI has oversight over national exercises and training programs related to their mandate for preparedness, mitigation, response and recovery for disasters.
The hazard management structure includes the National Hazard Management Executive (NHMEx), National Hazard Management Council and Policy Group. HMCI works to improve Cayman’s resilience from a wide range of threats including hurricanes and earthquakes but also technological threats such as transportation accidents, hazardous materials, large fires and marine oil spills.
Preparedness and Planning are key to ensure an effective outcome both from an individual perspective and as a community.
Hurricanes
The destructive force of tropical storms and hurricanes comes from four areas: strong winds, heavy rains, crashing waves and storm surge. For more information from Hazard Management see here: caymanprepared.ky/hurricanes/
Earthquakes
The Cayman Islands lie close to the boundary zone of the Caribbean and North American tectonic plates. There is the potential for us to be affected by a major earthquake. For more information on this please see this page: Earthquake | Hazard Management Cayman Islands (gov.ky)
Tsunamis
The main sources for tsunami in the Caribbean are earthquakes (generated at the boundaries of the Caribbean Plate or within the Plate), submarine landslides, volcanoes, and large earthquakes which occur far away and generate a large tsunami which reaches the Caribbean. For more information on this see this page: Tsunami | Hazard Management Cayman Islands (gov.ky)
Flooding
During heavy or continued rain, many parts of the Cayman Islands are prone to flooding. For more information on this please see this page: Flooding | Hazard Management Cayman Islands (gov.ky)
Public Shelters
There are currently 14 hurricane shelters in Grand Cayman, seven of these operate as Emergency Medical Centres (EMC) and two shelters also accept cats and dogs (PETS). Depending on the severity of the current threat and other factors, HMCI could open some instead of all of the shelters. Please see this page for more information: Shelters | Hazard Management Cayman Islands (gov.ky)
Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT)
One of the mandates of HMCI is to increase the resilience of communities. The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) programme is one such tool the agency uses to achieve this mandate. Hazard Management Cayman Islands and the Cayman Islands Red Cross have now successfully trained and established a number of CERT teams including in North Side, North Sound Gardens Community, West Bay, Little Cayman, Cayman Brac and Savannah Meadows. For more information see this page: GOVKY - Cayman Islands Government - For Information and Service
National Emergency Notification System (NENS)
When a major threat is declared, a release is issued to all media houses to advise the public and the notification is also posted on this website and social media accounts. The Cayman Islands Government has also launched the National Emergency Notification System (NENS). In the event of a national disaster or emergency, this system enables direct communication with all subscribed users in the Cayman Islands. The emergency alert will include details of the incident, including what kind of incident it is, where it is primarily located (if possible) and when it occurred. The message will also include any essential public safety messages. Developed by HMCI in collaboration with local and regional stakeholders, the NENS is a free mobile app that delivers emergency alerts by email, SMS and app notification. For more information and to download the app onto your mobile device(s), visit www.nens.gov.ky. Though the NENS app is very useful, people are still encouraged to plan ahead. For advice and up-to-date information on threats and warnings, you should also follow the HMCI Facebook page (@Caymanhazard) and X account (formerly Twitter) (@CINEOC).
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Last updated: 18 November, 2024