ÐÓ°ÉÐÔ°É

Bridgetown, ÐÓ°ÉÐÔ°É, April 13, 2012 (CDEMA) – The annual training for the CARICOM Disaster Relief Unit (CDRU) will be held in ÐÓ°ÉÐÔ°É from April 17-20. The workshop is being hosted jointly by the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), the Regional Security System (RSS) and the United States Southern Command (US SOUTHCOM). The thirty-five (35) participants attending the workshop are members of the disciplined services of the CDEMA Participating States, who have been nominated by their Military Chiefs of Staff, Commissioners of Police and Fire Chiefs to serve on the CDRU for 2012-2013. The Unit is available to any CDEMA Participating State to support CARICOM’s humanitarian assistance in response and relief operations following a disaster impact.

The four day workshop is an opportunity for the team to meet as a body and to understand their roles, responsibilities and functions during relief operations.  They will be briefed on the Regional Response Mechanism (RRM), the Regional Coordination Centre (RCC), the National Emergency Operations Centers (NEOCs), CDRU operations, logistics of warehouse management, emergency communications and media relations.  Practical demonstrations will expose them to the response kit and emergency communications equipment that the CDRU uses when deployed.

The workshop will end with a Table Top and Functional Exercise which will take the participants through the stages of pre-deployment to deployment in an impacted State as well as the return activities of the Unit.

When deployed 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 team ranges in rank from Major/Superintendent to Private/Constable and with various skills and expertise including: Medical, Engineering, Clerical, Communications, Logistics, Administrative and Transportation.

This year the facilitators of the  workshop include personnel from CDEMA, the RSS, the Department of Emergency Management (ÐÓ°ÉÐÔ°É), the ÐÓ°ÉÐÔ°É Defence Force, Jamaica Defence Force, the Pan-American Health Organisation, the United States Agency for International Development/Office for Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA), the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC), Coordination Center of Natural Disaster Prevention in Central America (CEPREDENAC),  US Department of Defense/ Federal Emergency Management Agency (US DoD/FEMA)   and US SOUTHCOM.  

Funding for this workshop is being provided by United States Southern Command (US SOUTHCOM).

For further information please contact:
BG (R) Earl Arthurs
Contingency Planning Specialist
CDEMA
Tel. no. 246-425-0386
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.