Bermuda's emergency services coped brilliantly in dealing with the trauma of Hurricane Fabian, a stress management team from the United States has concluded.

Two counsellors from the International Critical Stress Foundation (ICISF) are on the Island to assess how emergency services dealt with the hurricane.

Donald Howell of ICISF told The Royal Gazette: "I think that because of their commitment to preventative education and stress reduction, the Police and the Hospitals Board performed exceptionally well given the conditions they were exposed to.

"We recognise the nation of Bermuda was exposed to two major traumatic events: the hurricane and the devastation it caused, but also the tragedy of the loss of four lives, including three of Bermuda's finest, the Police.

"This was also the first line of duty death the country has experienced and normally that can be devastating and incapacitating, but the dedication of the critical stress management of the Police and the Hospitals Board gave staff a safe avenue to talk about any experiences and to recover to do the fine jobs they were doing.

"The bonding of the critical stress management teams in both organisations was a stroke of brilliance."ICISF is based in Maryland and is a non-profit organisation dedicated to helping prevent stress in trauma and disaster situations."