THE Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) today launched construction of an $8 million headquarters, including a training facility, offices and a warehouse.
The facilities are being constructed outside Bridgetown, on land at Lears, St Michael provided by the Government. The structures are expected to be strong enough to withstand natural hazards, such as storms.
Addressing the ground-breaking ceremony this morning Attorney General Adriel Brathwaite said CDEMA was important if the region was to continue to “build resilient communities” and “to withstand whatever disasters will befall us from time to time”.
He said Hurricane Katrina in 2005 had shown how important it was to coordinate disaster relief efforts. Long after the passage of the hurricane, there had been complaints of aid not reaching those it was intended for, the more vulnerable, Brathwaite told the gathering.
“If you have all of the aid in the world and you have an event and there is no proper coordination, [relief efforts] will come to naught,” he said.
He also said it was important to have efforts aimed at disaster prevention and mitigation because natural disasters could wipe out 25 to 50 years of economic and other gains for countries. (TY)
