An official Barbados delegation headed by Minister of Home Affairs and Information, Hon. Wilfred Abrahams, is expressing satisfaction with the outcome of a week-long visit to Cuba. They spent the week of 5 to 9 May in an intensive programme of consultations with the National General Staff of Civil Defense in Cuba. It is the highest authority within Cuba’s national defense system, with overall responsibility for planning and executing civil defense measures. A delegation from the regional Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) also took part in the sessions.
The programme included visits to the Institute of Meteorology, the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources, the Institute of Geophysics and Astronomy, and the Regional Fire and Rescue Training Centre. The National Centre for Seismological Research made a presentation during the working sessions. Participants also went on a field trip to the town of San José de Las Lajas and the municipality of Batabanó in the province of Mayabeque, where they were able to observe operations in the field.
Other members of the Barbados delegation were: Mrs. Wendy Odle, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs and Information; Mr. Sabu Best, Director, Barbados Meteorological Service; Captain Robert Harewood, Deputy Director, Department of Emergency Management; Ms. Joy-Anne Johnson, Programme Officer, Department of Emergency Management; Ms. Kathy Harris, Emergency Management Community Volunteer, District Emergency Organization; and Ms. Karen Mascoll, Cultural Policy Officer, Division of Culture, Prime Minister’s Office.
The delegation gave positive assessments of the sessions. Minister Abrahams regarded the week-long session as an initiative whose time had come, partly in an era when traditional sources of collaboration and support could no longer be relied on. Capt. Harewood considered them to be “well coordinated and very informative, with lots of room for follow-up discussions and engagements.” Ms. Harris described the programme as “very technical and informative. Coming from a community service background there is a lot to learn that will help build our team.” For Ms. Johnson, “It was a wealth of information and many initiatives which can be reproduced locally. Information also demonstrates that there are many similarities between both countries’ disaster risk management mechanism.”
