Community-based disaster management training being held at NEMA

Some 25 disaster reduction stakeholders in St. Kitts are revisiting some familiar concepts and learning about a few new ones at a three-day workshop being held at the National Emergency Management Agency’s (NEMA) Conference Room at Lime Kiln.

The Community-Based Disaster Risk Reduction Training opened on Monday (July 1, 2019) and is being facilitated by Dr. Janet Lin, Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, at the University Of Illinois College Of Medicine.

“One of the most important things about disaster management and thinking about disaster risk reduction is that you can have the best laid plans in the nation, in any country, but the execution of that is the most important ...” Dr. Lin stated, noting that if any plan fails families will ultimately suffer.

The July 01-03 workshop is being attended by the Subcommittee Chairs of the National Disaster Plan or their representative, NEMA District Volunteers, and Comprehensive Disaster Management Youth Ambassadors.

“All of you have expertise that you can actually extend to your community members,” Dr. Lin said. “The intent of this training is not that this stays within this room or stays amongst you but the intent of this training is that it actually gets spread and ... that you serve as a catalyst of the material and training you will be receiving.”

NEMA’s Disaster Coordinator Abdias Samuel encouraged the participants to embrace the training and ensure that the information is incorporated into future plan activities.