Castries, Saint Lucia July 29th, 2019 (CDEMA) – Thirty-four representatives from 28 national agencies, departments of government, the National Emergency Management Organisation (NEMO) sub committees and NGOs, met for the review of the national Comprehensive Disaster Management (CDM) legislation and the multi-hazard early warning systems regulations in Saint Lucia. The consultation was conducted from 18-28 June 2019 and facilitated by Ms. Vilette Benjamin, a legislative drafter from the Attorney General’s Chambers.

This consultation was convened by the NEMO, Saint Lucia office and financed under the ‘Strengthen integrated and cohesive preparedness capacity at a regional, national and community level in the Caribbean’ Project. This follows the initial review that commenced in October, 2018 under a previous project funded by the Disaster Preparedness programme of the European Commission Humanitarian Aid Office (DIPECHO).

Important considerations addressed in the consultation were the inclusion of persons with disabilities and vulnerable persons. It is intended that NEMO will now advance the process of finalisation with the integration of suggestions from the consultations, obtain endorsement from the National Emergency Management Advisory Committee (NEMAC) and submit to the Office of the Prime Minister for signature by the Prime Minister, who is the Minister responsible for disasters. Final approval and adoption will be done through the Cabinet and subsequently the legislature.

The “Strengthen integrated and cohesive preparedness capacity at a regional, national and community level in the Caribbean” project supports concrete actions for an effective early warning system, as well as aims to improve information management and operational capacity for an improved Caribbean Regional Response Mechanism. Working with Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Cuba at a national and community level, and with regional early warning and response actors at the Caribbean level, United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), and the International Federation of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent (IFRC) are partnering with the General Directorate of Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid of the European Union (ECHO) to reduce the risk of disasters in the region.