Bridgetown, Barbados Monday May 17, 2010 – (CDEMA) – The Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) launched its public portal for information on disaster management www.weready.org, at a presentation of a suite of tools and products on earthquake readiness and tsunami and other coastal hazards preparedness.
According to the Mr. Collymore, CDEMA’s Executive Director, “our Public Portal, www.weready.org, is a user friendly, easily accessible reservoir of information that is not constrained by space or geography or blunted by the science jargon. The suite of products addresses public awareness and education, utilizing diversity of delivery media and caters to diversity in our target audience.”
The hazard information products now accessible include: Student Workbooks, Tsunami Warning Information Dissemination Protocol and Standard Operating Procedures, Teacher Education Resource Kits, Information Kits for Caribbean Media, Toolkits for Builders and Developers, Policy Makers, Businesses and other institutions as well as Public Service Announcements on the Tsunami and Earthquake and other Hazards.
These efforts were commended by the donors and partners in attendance including the United States Agency for International Development/Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA), the European Union (EU) and the Department of Emergency Management (DEM), Barbados, ICG/CARIBE, the Coastal Zone Management Unit, Barbados and the Ministry of Education, Barbados.
Ms. Judy Thomas, Director of the Department of Emergency Management, Barbados, speaking on behalf of the Participating States extended gratitude to both CDEMA and the donors for the products and tools developed. She expressed the hope that the populations of all 18 Participating States will utilize the tools developed to increase the preparedness to hazards faced regionally by those most vulnerable.
The development of www.weready.org and the resources that are now available were made possible through the Government of Austria funded Earthquake Readiness and Capacity Building Project and the Tsunami and other Coastal Hazards Early Warning System Project financed by the USAID/OFDA.