Traditionally, this period is crucial for the Crisis Management Organization (CMO) of Aruba. In this context, a delegation headed by Director Rino Hermans was in the Netherlands to participate in the so-called ‘Crisis Management Week’ (Crisisbeheersing Week), a week dedicated to centralizing and structuring crisis management throughout the entire Kingdom of the Netherlands.
This trip holds double importance for our island’s disaster management body. On one hand, the primary goal of this week is to outline and centralize crisis prevention strategies within the Kingdom. On the other hand, it provides the perfect opportunity to evaluate and lock down Aruba’s contingency plan before the hurricane season structurally begins.
Evaluation and preparation before hurricane season As Director Rino Hermans explained, the first phase of the working visit has progressed to the point where the CMO has successfully finalized the established objectives regarding advance planning for the first half of the upcoming hurricane season. The goal is to ensure that all safety protocols are aligned and prepared for any meteorological eventuality that could affect the Caribbean region.
Intensive bilateral agenda in The Hague Following ‘Crisis Management Week’, the Aruban delegation’s agenda continues with a series of intensive bilateral meetings in The Hague. Hermans emphasized that the week in the Netherlands was quite intensive, but of utmost importance for future cooperation between partners within the Kingdom.
These meetings focus on several key points:
• Plan review: Analyzing and standardizing each country’s crisis plan so they can fit together effectively.
• Information flow: Agreeing on how real-time communication should be handled between entities when a crisis arises.
• Mutual support: Properly determining what the other partners in the Kingdom need and what Aruba itself can offer or needs to receive as assistance (mutual cooperation).
A new pillar in the Kingdom after Hurricane Irma The CMO management recalled that this way of working changed radically after the devastating experience with Hurricane Irma in Sint Maarten. Following that disaster, the Kingdom of the Netherlands decided that it could no longer continue to operate in such a manner.
From that moment on, it was stipulated that crisis management must be coordinated collectively. The new philosophy is based on the principle that all countries within the Kingdom must be able to depend on each other immediately in any extreme emergency situation.
The CMO’s visit to The Hague reinforces these ties and protocols, guaranteeing that Aruba is better prepared and backed by the Kingdom’s structure in the event of a crisis.
