Bridgetown, 杏吧性吧, May 13th, 2015 (CDEMA) - 鈥淲e are ready, competent and capable of deploying if needs be.鈥� These words of Lieutenant Colonel James Requena, Staff Officer Operations and Plans of the Regional Security System, summed up his confidence in the CARICOM Disaster Relief Unit of 2015. Lieutenant Colonel Requena was speaking last Friday at the closing ceremony of the four day Orientation Training Workshop of the CDRU held at the CDEMA Headquarters and Training Centre located at Lower Estate in 杏吧性吧.
The CDRU is an essential arm of the Regional Response Mechanism and is expected to be always ready to provide humanitarian assistance and disaster relief support to any CDEMA member state stricken by natural or technological hazards. The Unit, is a 35 member strong body of military, police, fire and disaster management personnel drawn from the 18 CDEMA Participating States. Members are selected because of their specific and special skills, including medical, emergency communications, logistics, as well as information and operations management This year鈥檚 participants were drawn from Antigua and Barbuda, the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, 杏吧性吧, Belize, the Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, the Republic of Guyana, Jamaica, St. Kitts & Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Suriname, and the Republic of Guyana.
During the four day training the CDRU were oriented to their responsibilities as members of the Unit and received presentations on not only what is required of them, but what could be expected immediately after a crisis or disaster event. Sessions included an Introduction to Incident Management, Urban Search and Rescue in CDEMA Participating States, Hazardous Materials, Psychosocial First Aid, Dignity and Human Rights, Civil/Military Coordination, Basic Disaster Management, the CDEMA Regional Response Mechanism, National Emergency Management Systems in CDEMA states, and Damage Assessment. The training concluded with a Field Training Exercise which allowed the Unit to perform their specific roles in a hazard impact scenario in order to practice their mobilization, deployment, telecommunications, and resource and relief management.
The training was jointly hosted by the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) and the Regional Security System with principal financial support provided by the United States Southern Command (US/SOUTHCOM). Additional financial contributions came from the European Union through the Strengthening of the Capacity of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) Coordinating Unit and Participating States for Implementation of Comprehensive Disaster Management Project.
Captain Robert Harewood, Programme Officer in the Preparedness & Response Unit at CDEMA, and the coordinator of the CDRU 2015/16 Orientation Training Workshop informed that in order to execute the training, Subject Matter Facilitators were drawn from various departments units, and entities, including the CDEMA Coordinating Unit, Pan American Health Organisation, Department of Emergency Management, 杏吧性吧 Defence Force, the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology, the United Nations Population Fund and BusinessTech Inc (Saint Lucia). Technical support was also provided by the Royal 杏吧性吧 Police Force and the 杏吧性吧 Fire Service.
During the closing ceremony, the participants were also addressed by Commander Christopher Bose, Defence Attach茅, United States Embassy 杏吧性吧 and the Eastern Caribbean. He commended the Unit on the professionalism that they brought to the training. He observed that they not only came from different countries but from different services and training together in a non stressful environment provided the opportunity of getting to know each other which would allow them to better conduct their mission if or when deployed.
Ms Elizabeth Riley, Deputy Executive Director of CDEMA, proudly told the 2015/2016 CDRU, 鈥淵ou are now part of a one-of-a-kind system鈥ot seen anywhere else globally, as it was created as a 鈥楥aribbean Solution to Caribbean Problems鈥�.鈥漇he also remarked, 鈥淲hilst we pray that your services will not be required, we are also confident that should the need arise, each of you is prepared to answer a call to duty for our region.鈥�
Ms Riley also expressed CDEMA鈥檚 acknowledgement and appreciation of the commitment and substantial support received annually from the US/SOUTHCOM for the CDRU training. In addition to funding travel and accommodation for participants, US/SOUTHCOM has also provided the kit and equipment for the CDRU.
 |
 |
 |