Bridgetown, Barbados, February 3, 2012 (CDEMA) - The Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency, in collaboration with the national disaster offices of Belize, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Saint Lucia, has organised a series of capacity building workshops to address disaster risk reduction related to the safety of schools and to the agriculture sector.

During the week- January 23 - 27, 2012, the National Emergency Management Organization (NEMO) in collaboration with the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) and Seismic Research Centre, St. Augustine Campus, University of the West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago has put in place several processes which will enhance NEMO’s capacity to effectively and efficiently address geological hazards issues relative to St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Flooding in Guyana - Situation Report   # 1 as of 1900 hours, January 31, 2012.
The National Emergency Operations Centre in Guyana has issued the following report on flooding in several regions of the country.

EVENT:
Continuous rainfall commenced in Guyana on Saturday January 28, 2012 to present. This resulted in flooding in several communities in Region 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, particularly, those communities located on the Coastal Plain and along the, Abary, Mahaica, and Mahaicony rivers. The water in East Demerara Water Conservancy (EDWC) reached its critical level and water is being released periodically during the low rides into the Mahaica River through the Maduni Sluice into the Maduni Creek. The release of water in the Mahaica River is exacerbating the flooding already experienced by the communities along the Mahaica and Mahaicony Rivers.

The National Emergency Management Organisation (NEMO) in collaboration with the OECS Secretariat will host a half day consultation aimed at developing a strategy for mitigating Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) into the Environmental Management (EM) policies and programmes.

Key governmental stakeholders met at the Department of Disaster Management (DDM) on Friday 27th January, 2012, to assist in the design of a Harmonised Protocol to integrate Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) into the national emergency management services of OECS states.