WWA Mission in Haiti
During a technical needs assessment mission Service Maritime et de Navigation d’Haiti (SEMANAH) signed IALA National Membership. This is an important step to further improve the system for delivering marine aids to navigation in Haiti, aiming to reach the international standard. Due to the Covid-19 the IALA WWA Expert, Mrs. Gerardine Delanoye, had to return to Europe in the middle of this mission and was not able to finish all the technical visits. As soon as possible the Academy team will return to finish this important work. In preparation the Academy sponsored the newly appointed Safety of Navigation Manager, Mr. Matthieu Polyte, to follow the Level 1 AtoN Manager course by Distance Learning.
The earthquake in 2010 and Matthew cyclone in 2016 had a huge impact on the maritime infrastructures and Haiti is still recovering from this. The expert was happy to see that many things are well arranged. She visited the Earthquake monitoring and Tsunami Warning Centre which is at the same location as the Weather Forecast Administration. The system for Worldwide Navigational Warnings Service (WWNWS), to provide rapid dissemination of information critical to navigation and the safety of life at sea, is very well organised in Haiti. It includes information on the status of the aids to navigation. And most importantly, she met with a great team of people who really make the change to improve the services. Many thanks to SEMANAH for taking such good care of the IALA staff and welcome to the IALA family!
Mr Eric Prévost Jr from SEMANAH and Mrs Gerardine Delanoye from WWA.