The Tribune

CAPTAIN Stephen Russell, Director of the National Emergency Management Agency, joined Caribbean disaster management leaders in Bridgetown, Barbados last month to hear forecasts for the hurricane season.

Capt Russell heard weather experts from Colorado State University predict nine tropical storms this summer, three of which will become hurricanes. The hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30.

The NEMA Director attended the fifth meeting of the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), which comprises directors of the 18 national disaster organisations of the CDEMA participating states.

The CDEMA was established over 20 years ago and the disaster management agenda in the region has moved from a fledgling concept to a full-fledged movement.

The Caribbean – generally acknowledged as one of the most vulnerable regions in the world to natural hazards – in articulating the Comprehensive Disaster Management (CDM) Strategy, has positioned itself as a leader and driver of change in disaster risk reduction, influencing the global Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) 2005 and now the post-HFA 2015 agenda.

Adriel Brathwaite, Attorney General and Minister of Home Affairs of Barbados, and Executive Director of CDEMA Ronald Jackson led the key matters discussed by the TAC. They included a presentation from the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) focused on increasing the cooperation between IFRC and CDEM. A review of emerging areas comprised the status update on the Caribbean Tsunami Information Centre, the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDRA), the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) Community Disaster Reduction Fund and the World Humanitarian Conference.