NEMO and Fortis Belize Collaborate on Dam Failure Preparedness with Upcoming Simulation

The National Emergency Management Organization (NEMO) and Fortis Belize are working to improve their preparedness in the unlikely event of dam failures. Last week, the parties met to discuss an upcoming simulation exercise and the development of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). The practice drill will be held on August 28 and seeks to improve preparedness and mitigate the effects of a dam failure in communities downstream. CEO of Fortis Belize Kay Menzies spoke about the significance of the advancements and how the information will be used if the dam overflows. 

Kay Menzies, CEO, Fortis Belize: “From time to time the dam would be overtopped and you hear that. Last year you heard a little bit of water going into San Ignacio there was some flooding. Actually at that time Challio held back something like 15 billion gallons so it prevent San Ignacio from flooding even worse than it did. The water that came down was from lower down the Macal, the Rio On Pools. So the flood mitigation portion of the dam activity is very much acknowledged but from time to time as you see this picture is from 2020 the water becomes too much and it goes over and at that point we notify the villages and we notify NEMO and then we go into an exercise that is based on the extent to which the flood will occur. From there this is what happens every year. We get together with NEMO and we compare our emergency preparedness plans and then we bring them to the folks that will be affected in the event of a flood. And so what we’re doing on the 28th of August is exactly that. So we met last week to begin the process and we agreed that we would as usual compare our emergency preparedness plans, make sure that we’re completely aligned between us an the National Emergency Management Organization and then this year we’re developing standard operating procedures that we, our operators at the dams, our emergency command center would act on including how to notify NEMO, how you would be notified as the media and so on in the event that something occurs. So it’s a process, it’s an exercise that we refine every year and what’s helpful is that NEMO has now gotten the US military involved and they bring their emergency experience and it allows us to flesh out even more. So every year the plan is refined. Every year it’s made better for the folks down stream.”

The company also meets quarterly with several villages to discuss water quality and other important topics. Menzies noted that the company ensures the communities are involved in decision-making efforts. 

Kay Menzies, CEO, Fortis Belize: “On a quarterly basis we have participation from the village councils and the villagers themselves who come down and discuss the routine quarterly activities and then this year  on the 28th we will be inviting the village councils, two people from each of the village councils to contribute and put in their input as to how it affects them, what they’re looking at in practical terms. We have an early warning system for example, we test it, we ask them to give us feedback to make sure that it’s being heard where it needs to be heard things like that and so far the last time when we ran an early warning system test we got a lot of feedback, it was very helpful as we continue to build out the system to reflect the growth in these areas and so we’re optimistic that on the 28th the representatives of each of the villages will come and participate fully and beyond that we’ll also be going to them as well. This is NEMO’s call. We stand back and work with them but they take the lead. They will advise you as to the exercise name the specifics of it and I would say that one of the things is that the 28th is a planned session, a refining of SOPs, next year we would be anticipating that we’d be doing a full fledged drill that would involve the townsfolk, the police, the villagers, everybody in a practice event that’s where the scenarios are developed maybe a hurricane coming over Dangriga or something like that and we do a scenario exercise. So next year we’ll go to the full fledged drill using these SOPs that have been developed this year.”

Outcomes of the quarterly meetings can be found on Fortis’ website.