10 (Photo by Cecil Shillingford) • Continued from previous page Coordination, Logistics and Relief, Shelter and Displaced Persons, and Civil Military, which saw the exercising of the Caribbean Regional Civil Military Coordination cell (CRCMC) and the Multinational Civil Military Coordination Cell (MNCCC). • This was followed by EXERCISE REGION RAP 2023 on May 25th. Region RAP is our emergency telecommunications exercise which is conducted annually, and which tests the emergency telecommunications infrastructure within the region. This year’s exercise simulated a chain of seismic (earthquake) events which caused the regular communication’s infrastructure in the region to fail, prompting the requirement for communication via Satellite phones, and VHF radio. This exercise was attended by all CDEMA sub-regional focal points, the National Disaster Offices in the Participating States, the Regional Security System, the regional amateur radio operators, and drone operators from the region’s private sector and national disaster offices. RECOVERY TRAINING • CDEMA, in collaboration with UNDP and the EU, provided a Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) workshop at the end of March this year which was held in Barbados. Forty participants from seven countries attended the training. These were senior level government officials from the ministries of Finance, Economic Development, Agriculture, Tourism and Infrastructure. • The CDEMA Regional Training Centre conducted the emergency deployment teams orientation webinar series from May 30th-31st, 2023. This webinar saw the orientation of 31 individuals to four of the Regional Response Mechanism deployment teams – The CARICOM Operational Support Team (COST), Rapid Needs and Assessment Team (RNAT). • The CARICOM Disaster Relief Unit (CDRU) 2023 training will take place during this year’s Exercise Tradewinds in Guyana from July 17th – 27th. This year, 34 officers from the region’s discipline forces will be training on the CDRU SOPs and operational guidelines and will be oriented to the deployment protocols of the RRM. Internally, the CDEMA CU staff undertook reorientation sessions to the Regional Response Mechanism, and the Regional Coordination Centre and its SOPs. Thus, the staff remain ready and alert for this year’s hurricane season.
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