One of the activities will bring together leaders and facilitators of community programmes from across the Caribbean. They will participate in a three day training of trainers workshop (February 11-13) aimed at strengthening community preparedness and response systems. Participants will be oriented to the CDEMA Community Preparedness Programme Facilitator Handbook and other tools. This will enable them to train persons in their communities in the use of these tools.
Whilst that workshop is being held, the NEMA staff and members of the national disaster management system including volunteers will be attending a Message Handling and Information Management Workshop. For some participants, this will be a refresher course and others will learn how to establish, operate and manage the information process in an Emergency Operations Centre. This workshop will be held February 11-12 at the NEMA Headquarters.
On February 14, senior personnel from the national disaster management system will meet in Nevis to initiate the development of a National Evacuation Policy for St. Kitts-Nevis. Currently CDEMA is developing a Model Evacuation Policy and Plan as part of Early Warning Systems. St. Kitts and Nevis will be the first of the Participating States to embark on the process for adapting this model.
These activities are being supported through the European Union funded Disaster Risk Management Sub-regional Programme which seeks to strengthen the disaster management systems and enhance community resilience in the region.