The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the Bahamas Department of Meteorology strongly refutes sending out a WhatsApp message warning Bahamians “to start tomorrow preparing for a hurricane, a system, which is moving near the Caribbean Sea.”

NEMA, through the Department of Meteorology, said it has an established protocol for the notification of any impending storm or system that might potentially impact the lives and properties of the public at large.

NEMA wants those responsible for any misinformation to cease and desist from spreading such erroneous information that might send the country into unnecessary panic.

NEMA, in collaboration with the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization held a Psychological First Aid “Train-The-Trainer” Workshop at the Bahamas Red Cross Society hall on John F. Kennedy Drive recently.

It was part of NEMA’s continued disaster mitigation and preparedness programme recognizing the challenges faced when dealing with psychological trauma within the communities after a major disaster.