GREAT BAY, St. Maarten, Wednesday, April 19, 2006 (GIS)- Disaster Management Coordinator and Fire Chief Winston Salomon, announced on Wednesday that St. Maarten will be hosting the Caribbean Hurricane Conference in 2007.

Initial preparations are now getting underway; however an exact date still has to be established for the conference which will cater to the Caribbean islands.

Salomon just returned over the Easter weekend from Orlando, Florida where he and Section Head Disaster Management Paul Martens, attended the 28th Annual National Hurricane Conference.

“We are very proud to have been selected for the venue of this conference that will be mainly geared towards the Caribbean islands.  The past conference focuses more on the hurricane threat to the U.S. mainland with a few sessions on Tropical Islands.

“We are in the hurricane belt and the focus must be on how we as a region will continue to deal with and mitigate the damages coming from these natural events.  We will be working in conjunction with the organization that organizes the 2006 National Hurricane Conference and with the St. Maarten Tourist Office in order to make the Caribbean conference a huge success in 2007,” Disaster Coordinator Winston Salomon told the Government Information Service (GIS) on Wednesday.
 
Martens gave a presentation that was prepared by Fire Chief Salomon and himself regarding St. Maarten’s preparations in the past for hurricane events and the 2005 flood.

Paul Martens told GIS on Wednesday that the presentation was well received by the attendees with many of them asking various questions with respect to disaster response and mitigation measures on St. Maarten.

Disaster Coordinator Salomon added that the main discussion at the conference was about the lessons learned from hurricane Katrina and creating a culture of preparedness where citizen activism comes out in a response to a hurricane threat.

Pedro De Weever from the GIS also attended the conference.

Contact: Roddy Heyliger,Government Information Service (GIS)
Ennia Bldg., Longwall Rd.
Philipsburg, St. Maarten D.W.I.
Tel. 00-599-543-1162, 542-4119
Fax: 543-1169
Email: gis@sintmaarten.net