What is Belize's Hurricane preparedness?

Being new to Belize, in November of last year I experienced Tropical Storm Richard, which was a Cat 1 I believe.  I was on the island of Ambergris Caye, and the whole island was on high alert.  TV broadcasts the updates constantly, and most of us belong to forums or Facebook where further updates are available.  However, if the storms get too bad, you'll lose internet.

It's my understanding from long time locals that if a bad hurricane is impending, they will demand you to leave the island and the authorities enforce it, altho a lot of people decide to "shelter in place," especially if they have pets, since there's no concern for animals by the authorities in this situation (sad but a fact of life in Belize).

It's advisable to stock up on EVERYTHING - water, canned good, alcholol, etc. not only to get through the hurricane but afterwards if it's bad enough, facilities will not resume production for a while, and/or looting occurs and returning stock to normal levels can take a few days or longer.

Hope this has been helpful.

Thanks for the input!  That makes sense about stocking up supplies. If they call for a mandatory evacuation, do they have shelters for people to go to?

Yes, I believe they do - schools and such, but I think it's limited.  Not an expert on hurricanes at all tho w/ my limited experience - maybe others have been through one.