Bridgetown, Barbados, July 11, 2008 (CDERA) - Personnel from the CARICOM Disaster Relief Unit will attend a four day workshop aimed at preparing them for disaster relief and response operations in their respective countries. The workshop is being held from July 14-17 at the Grand Barbados Hotel and is being hosted jointly by the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency’s (CDERA), the Regional Security System’s (RSS) and the United States Southern Command (US SOUTHCOM).
The thirty-three (33) participants come from twelve (12) of CDERA Participating States and are members of the “disciplined forces”, who were nominated by the Caribbean’s Military Chiefs of Staff/Commissioners of Police and the Barbados (Ag) Fire Chief to form the Caribbean Community’s (CARICOM) Disaster Relief Unit (CDRU) 2008/2009. The CDRU is available to any CDERA Participating State to support CDERA’s humanitarian assistance in response and relief operations following a disaster impact. The main tasks of the CDRU include management of relief supplies, emergency telecommunications support and the provision of appropriate personnel for repairing critical lifeline facilities.
The CDRU workshop will include presentations and discussions on various disaster related topics and initiatives in the Caribbean. Participants will participate in activities that will expose them to the new technology (including Web Emergency Operations Centre), the response kit and equipment that they will use when deployed. Other aspects of the training will include information on CDERA, the Regional Response Mechanism (RRM), the Regional Coordination Centre (RCC) and the National Emergency Operations Centers (NEOCs).
The workshop will end with a Table Top Exercise which will take the participants through the stages of Pre-Deployment/Activation, Deployment/Action in an impacted State and Re-Deployment/Return to Unit.
Workshop facilitators include personnel from CDERA, the RSS, the Department of Emergency Management (Barbados), the Barbados Defence Force, the Pan-American Health Organisation, the United States Agency for International Development/Office for Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA) and US SOUTHCOM. Participants range in rank from Major/Superintendent to Private/Constable; and with various skills and expertise including: Medical, Engineering, Clerical, Communications, Logistics, Administrative and Transportation.
Two regional observers will be attending this workshop from Central America (El Salvador representing the Coordination Centre for Natural Disasters Prevention in Central America - CEPREDENAC) and South America (Ecuador representing the Andean Committee for Disaster Prevention and Assistance - CAPADRE).
Funding for this work shop is being provided by United States Southern Command (US SOUTHCOM).
For further information, please contact:
BG (R) Earl Arthurs
Senior Programme Officer, Preparedness and Country Support
CDERA, Barbados
Tel: (246) 425-0386
Email: earl.arthurs@cdera.org
