With Disasters In Mind

Two conferences geared at advancing regional disaster planning and enabling local businesses and government agencies to speed recovery from natural disasters, are scheduled for next week.

Cayman Islands National Weather Service (CINWS) Director General Fred Sambula disclosed that an all-day Disaster Risk Reduction in the 21st Century conference is planned for Monday, 7 March. This will precede the opening of the 33rd Session of the Regional Hurricane Committee (HC33) at the Ritz-Carlton between 8 and 11 March.

A seminar, entitled Hurricane Preparedness and Business Continuity will take place Friday, 11 March between 8:30 a.m. and noon, as part of the HC33 Conference.

"The Disaster Risk Reduction conference is mainly a technical session targeting hydrological and meteorological experts, as well as some disaster managers from North and Central America and the Caribbean some of whom will be on-island for HC33," Mr. Sambula said.

"The conference will look at building regional, technological capacity and cooperation to support forecasting with a multi-hazard Approach or to handle a number of natural disasters at the same time.

"It will focus mainly on supporting national governments as they plan for disasters associated with climate change and other weather and climate-related issues."

Mr. Sambula further explained that the session dealing with hurricane preparedness will seek to engage businesses and governments in the area of hurricane disaster planning, before during and after the hazard with emphasis on measures to reduce the impact on their bottom-line and recover more easily in a hurricane's aftermath.

"We are looking forward to the participation of the local business community and agency heads, for when businesses and government are both ready, then the nation as a whole is more prepared," concluded Mr. Sambula.

(GIS)