EMERGENCY TELECOMMUNICATIONS COURSE FOR
BAHAMIAN EMERGENCY SERVICES

Barbados, Nov 9, 2005 (CDERA) – Bahamas emergency personnel will benefit from training in Emergency Telecommunications in a two-day workshop being hosted by the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency (CDERA).

The emergency personnel are drawn from a range of services among them the fire service, police, army, and ambulance services. The training focuses not only on upgrading the skills and knowledge of these personnel but also establishing standards and protocols which would be common throughout the 16 member states of CDERA.

Hosted by the Disaster Management Unit of The Bahamas and CDERA, this course focuses on the use of HF and VHF radio communication and satellite telephone communication. It is part of a wider Land-based Search and Rescue Project being implemented by CDERA in all of its 16 member states. It seeks to develop, by 2006, enhanced search and rescue infrastructure at the national and regional levels as well as provide training in search and rescue techniques.

Just over US$62,000 in equipment has been provided to The Bahamas to support its land-based search and rescue operation. Equipment included four first responder kits, four portable generators, radio equipment, two satellite telephones (one mobile and one fixed), and a laptop computer. Each first responder kit, which is designed to service six rescuers, contains close to one hundred pieces of equipment that might be needed in a land-based search and rescue operation.

Additional training in the management and operation of all the equipment and in warehousing will complete the implementation of the land-based search and rescue project which is funded by the Government of Japan through the United Nations Trust Fund for Human Security which is managed by the United Nations Development Programme.

The course is being held at the Royal Bahamas Defence Force, Coral Harbour, New Providence.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT:

Andria Grosvenor
Project Manager, CDERA
Telephone: (246) 425-0386
E-mail: cdera@caribsurf.com