The dates and locations are as follows:
- April 5: United States Virgin Islands (St. Thomas)
- April 6: United States Virgin Islands (St. Croix)
- April 15: Turks and Caicos (Providenciales)
- May 4: The Bahamas (Nassau)
- May 5: The Bahamas (Freeport)
- May 26*: Dominica (Roseau) (* Date to be confirmed)
- June 2: Trinidad and Tobago (Port-of-Spain)
The 2016 DMWS will focus on “Building Risk-Aware and Resilient Communities”. The theme reflects the growth of this flagship series, which has been taking place for over a decade. Initially focusing on the ongoing vulnerability of the region to natural disasters, the DMWS has evolved to integrate the wider array of risk factors that confront the region today. Man-made disasters, pandemic/infectious disease and cyber-crime, to name just a few, figure among the issues that are being tackled on the frontlines, and underscore why building resilience is not a public or private sector responsibility, but is the shared responsibility of a national, regional, and global community. The negative economic impact of non-existent or weak coordination among stakeholder communities in disaster preparedness and response cannot be understated, and, conversely, the positive benefits of joint private/public partnerships in disaster readiness are well established.
For the 2016 series, co-hosts Caribbean-Central American Action and Tropical Shipping will be joined by collaborating partners from the Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association (CHTA) and by the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA). As always, the hosts will partner with national disaster management organizations from the public sector, as well as with community-based private sector organizations, in each destination.
Updates with additional information on the destination workshops will be issued. In the interim, if you have any questions or would like to receive additional information, please contact Sally Yearwood at