BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CDERA): Coordinator of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency (CDERA), Jeremy Collymore has appealed to the region not to be lulled into state of complacency as a result of the relatively inactive hurricane season. We need to take note of the many hazard events that impacted several Caribbean countries during 2006 and remain focused in 2007 on developing and strengthening our resilience to reducing disaster risk to all hazards.

“Too many of us are still focused only on preparing for the hurricane season”, he said, “But the reality is that the Caribbean is exposed to major hazards - natural and man-made. This year several CDERA Participating States, including Jamaica, St Kitts/Nevis, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago were adversely affected by floods; earthquakes were felt in Trinidad and Tobago, British Virgin Islands, Grenada, Saint Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines; landslides occurred in the Eastern Caribbean Islands whilst the Montserrat volcano continues to be active”.

Collymore also drew attention to the cruise ship fire in Jamaican waters that caused the death of one person and injured 11 early in 2006, a sea accident and hazmat scare at a local post office in the BVI, and the recent air craft accident off St Vincent and the Grenadines as reminders of the varied nature of hazards that face us in the region.

“At this time we also recognize that Cricket World Cup (CWC) 2007 is now a few months away and the challenges of countries across the region as they accelerate their efforts to fine tune facilities contingency plans and ensure that their disaster management mechanisms are ready for any emergency. This is an opportunity for promoting linkages between preparedness planning and public safety.”

In this regard CDERA has been working closely with the CWC 2007 Public Safety and Disaster Manager who is based at the CDERA Coordinating Unit in Barbados. He also noted that United Nations Trust Fund for Human Security (UNTFHS) Land based Search and Rescue (L-SAR) Project which concluded in March 2006, provided equipment and trained persons in all 16 of CDERA member states who can be mobilized during CWC 2007. More investment is however needed to build on this legacy to strengthen our capacity in search and rescue operations of mass casualty events.

Throughout 2006 CDERA intensified its efforts to broker stakeholder partnerships and involve the private sector partners in consultative dialogue on framing the way forward for their full engagement in advancing the CDM Programme. A major outcome of these dialogues was brokering an agreement with the Tourism Sector, the main engine of economic growth in the Caribbean. The Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) partnered with CDERA, the CARICOM Regional Organisation for Standards and Quality (CROSQ) and the University of the West Indies (UWI) in a successful bid for US $800,000.00 for a Regional Public Goods grant from the Inter-American Development Bank to develop a Regional Risk Reduction Strategy for the Tourism Sector.

Consultations with the agriculture sector, another major sector in the Caribbean and one that has generally been adversely affected by hurricane, floods, drought, landslides and volcanic eruptions have led to renewed collaboration between CDERA and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) to improve disaster risk preparedness in the agriculture sector.

A significant factor of the stakeholder consultations in 2006 was the opportunity provided for reviewing the CDM programme which was introduced in 2001. A revised strategy and framework was presented at the inaugural Caribbean Conference on Comprehensive Disaster Management held in Barbados December 11-14, 2006. This milestone event was supported by some 110 persons including representatives from the tourism, telecommunications, health, education, agriculture, environment sectors, development partners and disaster management practitioners.