Lesroy W. Williams
Observer Reporter
(Limekiln, Basseterre)—Sixty days before the official start of the hurricane season, the Caribbean Open Trade Support Programme (COTS), hosted a Business Continuity Training Workshop on April 2 at NEMA headquarters, Limekiln, Basseterre.
This workshop, funded by the United States Agency for International Development, targeted persons from the public and private sectors.
The purpose of the one-day workshop was to deliver appropriate disaster management recovery training, including the preparation of preparedness and response plans to public and private sector entities in St. Kitts and Nevis.
The workshop had five desired outcomes: one, a higher level of awareness of the importance of Emergency/Disaster Planning; two, confirmation of the intention to improve contingency planning in all sectors for all major natural hazards; three, commitment to prepare recovery plans where such plans are absent or review and update such plans where they exist; four, acceptance of the need to integrate contingency planning into organizational development arrangements and five, identification of mechanisms for future collaboration in recovery planning among all sectors.
Mr. Franklyn Michael, Disaster Management Consultant in the region and workshop facilitator, made it clear that we are not “just planning for hurricanes but emergencies and other types of disasters.” He said that agencies have “to increase our resilience and resistance to disasters natural and man-made.”
Ms. Wendy C. Phipps, Executive Director of St. Kitts-Nevis Chamber of Industry and Commerce, said that at the end of the day, disaster planning and recovery planning must have as its fundamental concern the empowerment of people because they are the real collateral.
The Honourable Dwyer Astaphan, Minister of National Security declared the workshop open. In his brief address he underscored the point that the federation must prioritize its resources so that in the event of disasters, it would have resources available.
Mr. Goldwyn Caines, Public Relations Officer of NEMA believed that the objectives of the workshop were achieved and declared that NEMA has a vested interested in their implementation.
