NEMO Trains Media on Disaster Risk Coverage Ahead of Hurricane Season

The National Emergency Management Organization, NEMO, is stepping up efforts to engage the media in disaster risk management. In collaboration with the Government Press Office, today NEMO held a special training session titled “Disaster Risk Reduction for the Media.” The workshop aimed to equip media professionals with a solid understanding of disaster management principles, enabling them to play a more active role in building safer, more resilient communities. Participants included representatives from Belize’s leading radio, Love FM, as well as other TV and online media outlets. During the session, NEMO’s National Emergency Coordinator Daniel Mendez spoke on the importance of the organization’s 2025 Media Engagement Strategy.

Daniel Mendez, National Emergency Coordinator, NEMO: “This is just to ensure that we are all sharing the correct information. And so really the purpose was that information sharing with us, with the media so we do the best job possible in sharing information if we do have to face a hurricane this year. Of course, there’s always the issue of misinformation and people listening to different sources and getting different information from many different areas. So what we wanted to do was to remind the media that any questions for any of these should be sent to us. We at NEMO rely on the National Met Service as our primary source of information for any meteorological issues. We rely on the National Hydrological Service for any issues that relate to flooding and anything that is needed at that point. So it’s really important that we recognize the importance of these two agencies in providing the accurate and local information during these events. The thing is, we have to make sure that we provide the most accurate and timely information. If we don’t provide the timely information, then people may tend to look at other sources. But what we are trying to do is to streamline our efforts to improve our ability to provide information faster, more rapidly, and in different formats, because we do know that we live in an age where not everyone listens to the news, not everyone watches TV. So we’re trying to develop products that we can share on multiple formats, on social media, on TV and radio. And so it’s really an effort for us to be able to have more improved products and more accessibility to the public.”

Mendez said that, while the training falls just before the start of the 2025 Atlantic Hurricane Season, NEMO is vigilantly keeping an eye out for all disasters.

Daniel Mendez, National Emergency Coordinator, NEMO: “NEMO is a system. As we kept saying last year, you heard us say the phrase, we are NEMO. And really, that’s what it means. Every ministry of government becomes Nemo when there’s an activation of the system. So every ministry, and also including the public, every agency, every home, every individual becomes part of the system. And so we all need to collaborate together to address the issue at that time. So, NEMO is not one institution. It is not just my office. I don’t make all the decisions. There are different operational committees which are headed by CEOs of the different ministries. And so, these are the ones who have the different plans, and they’re the ones who guide that work. And it’s all divided into different functional areas. So, it is an entire system, like I said, everything is coordinated and the entire government becomes NEMO during a response. The vigilance at the national system never stops. We not only monitor, we’re not only monitoring potential systems, we also monitor things like forest fires and anything else that is important. NEMO is not a hurricane only organization. We function 24-7 throughout the year. Our officers are on duty all the time and so we monitor anything that is, that may threaten public safety and well-being.”

The training was held during the observance of National Hurricane Preparedness Week, which began on Sunday, May 25.