Children playing on a beach amidst the reconstruction after hurricane Ivan in Grenada.
Effective preparation for natural disasters is focus of Commonwealth training
21 April 2009
Participants will share good practices and explore how new technologies can be implemented to good effect
In September 2004, Hurricane Ivan caused widespread devastation across the Caribbean, including destroying 90 per cent of Grenada’s infrastructure. Three months later a tsunami caused untold damage to Sri Lanka, Maldives and many other countries in the Indian Ocean. Then, in 2005, an earthquake in Pakistan took the lives of tens of thousands of people.
“Natural disasters such as these are largely unpredictable and have the power to ruin hundreds of thousands of people’s lives in such as short period of time,” says Jacqueline Wilson, Director of Governance and Institutional Development at the Commonwealth Secretariat.
Singapore Civil Defence Force
The main role of the Singapore Civil Defence Force is to provide fire-fighting, rescue and emergency ambulance services, as well as formulate, implement and enforce regulations on fire safety and civil defence shelter matters. Source: http://www.scdf.gov.sg/
“Although we are powerless to prevent them, we can ensure that countries are as prepared as possible to cope in the immediate aftermath.”
The Secretariat has consequently designed a programme to train senior public officials – mainly drawn from disaster management agencies and other relevant institutions from member states – on how to cope effectively in the aftermath of a disaster. Participants will share experiences with each other, explore how new technologies can be implemented to good effect, and examine new and effective methodologies.
The training programme will be delivered by the Secretariat and the Singapore Civil Defence Academy, which is part of the Singapore Civil Defence Force. Participants will also learn from Singapore’s experiences in disaster preparedness and management.
It is jointly sponsored and organised by the Secretariat and Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and will take place between 18 and 29 May 2009. Twenty-five participants from 20 Commonwealth countries will be taking part.
As well as providing long-term assistance and training, the Secretariat also places volunteer experts often in response to national disasters. It sent 23 doctors to Maldives after the 2004 tsunami and the following year another 17 doctors to Pakistan in the aftermath of the earthquake.
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