A team of facilitators from the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) was on island through the course of this week to conduct the opening ceremony of the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) Management Course. This is a revised CDEMA programme with Anguilla being positioned as the first island in the Caribbean to benefit from the training.
The EOC Management Course, which ran from Wednesday August 20th to Friday August 22nd was held at the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) in the Valley. The training was designed to strengthen the capabilities of EOC personnel in Anguilla in managing coordinated emergency and disaster responses. Several individuals and entity representatives who would be affiliated with emergency operations in times of a disaster attended the training sessions.
The order of the opening session was moderated by Deputy Director of Disaster Management, Mr. Trevor Queeley, with a brief opening prayer delivered by Zinzi Home, one of CDEMA’s professionals.
In addressing the participants, Director of the Department of Disaster Management (DDM), Ms. Susan Hodge, extended a cordial welcome to all and said that the three days of training, locally, will, in fact, set the stage for promoting similar training sessions in other islands of the region.
“Welcome on behalf of the Government of Anguilla,” she said. “We are honored that Anguilla was chosen as the venue for this Pilot Workshop of the Revised CDEMA Emergency Operations Centre Management.
“I extend a special welcome to the training team from the CDEMA Coordinating Unit and our National Disaster Coordinating colleagues, Ms. Michelle Forbes of St. Vincent & the Grenadines as well as Mr. Sherrod James of Antigua & Barbuda. Your presence here reflects the true spirit of regionalism of which CEDEMA was founded.
“To the participants from Anguilla, this is an opportunity to not only build your own capacity, but also to provide valuable feedback that will help to shape how this course is rolled out regionally. You are the pioneers in this process, and the insights that you provide will benefit practitioners throughout the Caribbean.”
A message from CDEMA’s Deputy Executive Director, Lt. Col. Kester Craig, was read in his absence by CDEMA’s Education and Training Specialist, Ms. Gayle Drakes:
“On behalf of Ms. Elizabeth Riley, CDEMA’s Executive Director, I would like to thank you for taking the time from your busy schedule to attend this Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) Management Training. Your presence here is a testimony to your commitment to ensuring that Anguilla is prepared to respond to the multiple hazards we face in the Caribbean.
“The Caribbean, being the second most vulnerable region in the world, continues to be impacted by multiple and different hazards that present dynamic, fluid, complex and diverse response challenges.
“Anguilla, by nature of its location in this region, faces these same challenges, which are further compounded by climate change, a phenomenon which poses a high degree of uncertainty in the behaviour of hydrometeorological systems.
“We saw a good illustration of this new and uncertain behaviour in the recent development and passage of Hurricane Erin, just to the north of Anguilla and your sister islands of the Leewards. Erin was a storm that has set some new records for the speed and intensity of its development from a tropical depression to major hurricane in a short time span.
“It is therefore almost inevitable that we will have to activate National Emergency Operations Centres, or EOCs, to coordinate responses to the impacts of the multiple hazards that threaten our countries, from hydrometeorological to seismic to the technological hazards created by the actions of human beings.
“This CDEMA EOC Management course was established some years ago to support CDEMA Participating States in building that capacity among its EOC staff for managing emergency and disaster operations. The course has received an extensive review and overhaul to enhance it for the issues and challenges of these changing times. The participants in the
course this week are drawn from across the public and private sectors in Anguilla and are those whom the country calls on in crises to coordinate an effective and efficient response to the emergencies and disasters that impact the people of the country.
“We hope that by the end of this training, participants will be better able to manage an Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) effectively by applying established structures, processes, and coordination mechanisms to plan, activate, operate, and demobilize EOC functions in support of a coordinated, multi-agency disaster response.”
Anguilla’s Deputy Governor, Mr. Perrin Bradley also addressed the gathering. “Ladies and gentlemen, it is my honour to welcome you to the opening of this Emergency Operation Centre of Management Training. First, I wish to thank the Department of Disaster Management and the Caribbean Disaster Management Agency for their partnership in convening this programme.”
He noted that the training came at the most fitting time with regard to us being in the peak of the hurricane season, making reference to the recent passage of the rapidly developed Hurricane Erin which had traversed north of our vicinity a few days before, and the two systems that are following closely behind.
“These are reminders why we must – in the words of the well-known maxim – ‘stay ready, so we don’t have to get ready.’ Training such as this ensures that our EOC remains not just as a physical space, but as a living nerve center of Anguilla’s resilience in times of disaster.”
Mr. Bradley also made mention of the outgoing DDM Director, Ms. Susan Hodge, whom he described as a colleague who has given decades of dedicated service to the safety and security of Anguilla.
“The Director of Disaster Management, Ms. Susan Hodge, will be retiring shortly,” he announced… “Her retirement would be well deserved and well earned. Susan, I wish you all the very best. You have led with distinction and professionalism through some of our most difficult and challenging times. So, on behalf of the Government and people of Anguilla, I wish you every success as you embark upon the next chapter of your life. We are indebted to you for your commitment to disaster preparedness over so many years.”
He also expressed his sincere gratitude to the members of the National Disaster Management Committee (NDMC) for their steadfast service and commitment to preparedness.
