CDEMA receiving international support to bolster disaster response

12:59 pm, Fri June 2, 2023

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Elizabeth Riley, Executive Director of CDEMA

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Executive Director of CDEMA Elizabeth Riley

By Halshane Burke

The Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) said it is receiving support for its response and readiness mechanisms as the hurricane season gets underway.

Executive Director of CDEMA Elizabeth Riley said Global Support and Development (GSD) has teamed up with the regional body to mitigate the effects of a disaster.

GSD is a humanitarian organisation that aims to rapidly respond to disasters in collaboration with at risk communities and support them to prepare for future disasters.

The CDEMA boss said the partnership is crucial to the region's ability to bounce back from a catastrophe.

"What we're even more excited about for the region is that as a part of GSD's relationship with this region, they will be posting a state of the art humanitarian vessel in the Caribbean region. The vessel is called the MB Dawn and it is a state of the art vessel that is specifically configured to provide humanitarian and disaster support to affected states and will very much strengthen our disaster response capabilities in the region, particularly in the area of logistics," she revealed.

A memorandum of understanding is to be signed between CDEMA and GSD later this month in St. Lucia.

Regional funding

CDEMA said it continues to face challenges with obtaining financial support from member states.

The executive director said a number of countries across the region are facing fiscal constraints, adding that the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected the level of funding from regional bodies.

She is, however, seeking to assure that CDEMA's responsiveness will not be negatively affected by the funding crunch.

"There are actions being undertaken at the level of our council of ministers and also at the level of the heads of government of CARICOM to address these considerations," she said, noting that the financing for the mobilisation of the regional response mechanism is external.

"The funding for this year and through to 2025, in fact, comes from the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office. My discussion with our internal team is about addressing the problem from a higher level so that we look at a long-term sustainable financing solution to the financial realities of the agency," said Ms. Riley.