Grand Turk, Nov 1, 2005 (GIS) - Emergency personnel in the Turks and Caicos Islands are currently participating in a two-day training course in Emergency Telecommunications hosted by The Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency (CDERA) in conjunction with the Department of Disaster Management.

Course participants

This initiative is part of CDERA’s  “Strengthening of the Urban Search and Rescue Capability of CDERA” Project, which seeks to Enhance land based search and rescue capability in the Caribbean through training and equipping of emergency response services. The Project 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 in all of CDERA’s 16 participating states.

To date the Turks and Caicos Islands has received emergency communication and first responder equipment and supplies – two satellite phones with prepaid minutes, one laptop computer and one search and rescue first responder kit- to the amount of US$34,004.

First Responders and other disaster emergency personnel of the Turks and Caicos Islands will also be beneficiaries of the Search and Rescue Certification programme and other products being developed.

Speaking at the opening ceremony yesterday, Hon. Galmo Williams, Minister of Natural Resources and Social Services, highlighted the impact of this year’s hurricane season on our region. He stressed the important role Disaster Management plays in our National Planning and the need for greater emphasis to be placed on the critical area of communication.

Mr. Earl Arthurs, Course Facilitator and Technical Resource Officer, CDERA, commenting on the overall intention of the training said “The intention is to create a cadre of trained communication personnel who can support all emergency operations; including Search and Rescue.”

He said that CDERA is committed to working with partners and countries in order to reduce the vulnerability in our region. “We are aware that a single event could completely destroy our fragile national economies and in the process, the most distressing aspect, is that the impact is greatest on the poorer elements of the population” stressed Mr. Arthurs.

He went on to urge participants to see themselves as a “vital link between the disaster risk reduction agenda; and the response and recovery efforts in the Turks and Caicos Islands.”  He continued, “The better we collaborate to do our jobs, the better prepared our countries and region will be.”

The Feature Speaker, Acting Governor, Ms. Mahala Wynns in her remarks brought the message home of the importance of reliable communication by making reference to recent situations where the conventional means of communication were hampered as a result of system failures.

She urged the participants to take as much from the course as possible and to take their role as Disaster personnel seriously.

Also bring remarks was the Acting Chief Secretary, Mr. Alpheus Gardiner.

The Course Facilitators are Mr. Earl Arthurs and Mr. Basil Davidson.

GOVERNMENT OF THE TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS
GOVERNMENT INFORMATION SERVICE (GIS)
HIBISCUS SQUARE
GRAND TURK; TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS
Telephone: (649) 946-2801/8; Exts. 40916/40925/40917
Facsimile: (649) 946-1311
E-mail: gis@gov.tc
Website: www. turksandcaicosislands.gov.tc