Carlson makes quick Emergency start
By Charles Pitt

Charles Carlson has been appointed to the position of Director of Emergency Management. And he is quickly getting to work.
Speaking to the Times on Friday morning, Carlson said it was his first day in the job and he had just come from a meeting with the Emergency Committee.
He takes over the role from Metuatini Tangaroa and he asked people to note the name change from Disaster Management Office to Emergency Management Office (EMO).
Carlson said one staff member will be joining his office next week. The EMO is located in the left side of the prefab building in front of OMIA (Office of the Minister for Island Administration). It is under the Office of the Prime Minister after previously being part of the Police.
Carlson said he is yet to finalise his work programme but he wants to continue the present move to prepare for the cyclone season with awareness programmes and meeting with key ministries to identify their responsibilities. Carlson said the key is to establish a clear line of communication.
GOAL
In the medium term his goal is to review the Hurricane Act 1973. People, said Carlson, tend to associate disasters with hurricanes but the term disaster has much wider connotations.
For instance a disaster can involve natural and man made events. For example; floods, tsunamis, landslide, building collapse, animal disease, earthquake, fire, oil spill on land or at sea, public health crisis e.g. SARS, plane crash onto buildings, terrorist attack and so on.
As to the likelihood of a cyclone, Carlson said the Meteorological Office has predicted there will be up to 10 cyclones in the region with at least two predicted for the southern Cook Islands.

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