Philipsburg:---On Thursday August 27 and Friday August 28 a meeting was convened on Sint Maarten to discuss a European Commission funded project for disaster management. This project called Regional Risk Reduction Initiative (R3I) will benefit the Dutch and British Overseas Countries and Territories (OCT’s). The project is being coordinated by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) office in Barbados and was launched in March 2009 in Barbados. The present meeting is being held to discuss the project document and the annual work plan. Furthermore a project board is selected and working groups installed.
The objective of the project is to “develop the local capacities of the overseas countries and territories and provide them with tools (special data infrastructure and models) and best practices to support a comprehensive disaster risk management approach” and “capacity building in disaster risk management”. The project provides 4.9 million Euro for joint projects for the Dutch and British OCT’s.
Main project outputs will be:
- hazard mapping and vulnerability assessments;
- early warning systems;
- capacity building in response, rescue and recovery;
- technical assistance to OCT’s;
- coordination, training and dissemination.
Sint Maarten is very proud to be able to host this two day meeting at the Sonesta Maho Beach Resort. Fire Chief and Disaster Coordinator Winston Salomon addressed the gathering during the opening session on behalf of the Island Territory of Sint Maarten. Mr. Salomon welcomes this initiative and is looking forward to more regional cooperation in the field of disaster management. With the transition to Country Sint Maarten cooperation with the region is deemed extremely important. The following OCT’s are in attendance: Anguilla, British Virgin Islands; Sint Eustatius, Netherlands Antilles, Aruba, Sint Maarten, Turks & Caicos Islands and Montserrat. Representatives from regional and international organizations are also attending.