CCAA holds one-day disaster management workshop

A one-day disaster management workshop put on by Caribbean Central American Action in partnership with Tropical Shipping ended here Tuesday, April 12, at the National Insurance Services conference room.{{more}}

The ultimate goal of the workshop, which involved key stakeholders representing various organizations in the private and public sector, was to secure support and commitment in the recovery process in the event of any future disaster.

Rick Murrell, Executive Chairman of Tropical Shipping, told SEARCHLIGHT that there were primarily three main issues following the occurrence of any disaster, natural or unnatural.

Among these being leadership, or to ensure that private and public sector officials are prepared and that everyone knows what the plan is, and that is that the government and private sector know how to get out of a major catastrophe, Murrell explained.

“Small disasters are easy to get over if the damage is local, but a significant disaster will affect the whole country,” he continued.

According to Murrell, it was of extreme importance that the private and public sector work together, particularly in countries like St Vincent and some of the other neighbouring nations.

“So the whole concept is for government and the private sector to put their differences aside in order to have a plan to overcome any obstacles when an event occurs. That’s really what we are about,” Murrell told SEARCHLIGHT.

This was important because the ability for a country to return to some normalcy depended on the ability of these two entities to work together, he further explained.

“Our view is that today almost everybody is clothed, fed and housed by the private sector. It’s impractical and impossible to believe that after an event, a government, any government, can take the daily lives of people and make them mobile.”

Murrell contended that the task of rebuilding was for everybody to have a plan and work together towards accomplishing one common goal.

Similar workshops have been held throughout the region since 1990 after Hurricane Hugo ravaged parts of the region, including St Croix and St Kitts.

“My company didn’t have a plan to handle the catastrophe,” Murrell said, adding that the governments of each territory were also clueless on how to move forward.

“At that point, we said that once we learnt how to get out of this problem we will try to find a way to fulfill our corporate responsibility.”

He added that this was the one thing that his company can give back to the community in which it operates, adding that operations are interrupted at least once every year because of a significant catastrophe within the system.

“We have dedicated ourselves to this to try to work with the private and public sector, because we believe it is the right thing for our people,” Murrell said.

A similar workshop was expected to be held in Dominica yesterday. (DD)