Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency
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The Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) is an inter-regional supportive network of independent emergency units throughout the
Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...
region. Formed on September 1, 2005, as the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency (CDERA) it underwent a name change to CDEMA in September 2009.


Members

The participating member states and agencies of the CDEMA include:


Activities

The stated role of the CDEMA is to coordinate disaster response to member countries. CDEMA personnel worked in
Grenada Grenada ( ; Grenadian Creole French: ) is an island country in the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea at the southern end of the Grenadines island chain. Grenada consists of the island of Grenada itself, two smaller islands, Carriacou and Pe ...
and
Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
in early September 2004 after the passage of
Hurricane Ivan Hurricane Ivan was a large, long-lived, Cape Verde hurricane that caused widespread damage in the Caribbean and United States. The cyclone was the ninth named storm, the sixth hurricane and the fourth major hurricane of the active 2004 Atlan ...
. During the mid-1990s, CDEMA provided disaster support for the eruption of the Soufriere Hills volcano in
Montserrat Montserrat ( ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is part of the Leeward Islands, the northern portion of the Lesser Antilles chain of the West Indies. Montserrat is about long and wide, with r ...
. The CDEMA also regularly monitors the Soufriere Hills volcano, in addition to the active undersea volcano named
Kick 'em Jenny Kick 'em Jenny (also: Kick-'em-Jenny or Mt. Kick-'Em-Jenny) is an active submarine volcano or seamount on the Caribbean Sea floor, located north of the island of Grenada and about west of Ronde Island in the Grenadines. Kick-'em-Jenny rises a ...
, to the north of
Grenada Grenada ( ; Grenadian Creole French: ) is an island country in the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea at the southern end of the Grenadines island chain. Grenada consists of the island of Grenada itself, two smaller islands, Carriacou and Pe ...
. Members of the
Regional Security System The Regional Security System (RSS) is an international agreement for the defence and security of the eastern Caribbean region with future expansion planned with South America. History The Regional Security System was created in 1982 to counter ...
have requested military and logistical assistance through that agreement after natural disasters as well.


Background

The Pan-Caribbean Disasters Preparedness and Prevention Project (PCDPPP) was established in July 1984 to control and minimize the damage caused by severe weather in the Caribbean region and the
Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...
. Prior to the establishment of the PCDPPP, disasters in the area were addressed via private donors, a method that was heavily dependent on others and failed to help the countries of the Caribbean's cause for independence. The PCDPPP was a collection of international sponsors such as the
United States Agency for International Development The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. With a budget of over $27 bi ...
(USAID), the
Canadian International Development Agency The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) was a federal Canadian organization that administered foreign aid programs in developing countries. The agency was merged into the Department of Foreign Affairs in 2013 by the federal governmen ...
, the
Government of the Netherlands The politics of the Netherlands take place within the framework of a parliamentary representative democracy, a constitutional monarchy, and a decentralised unitary state.''Civil service systems in Western Europe'' edited by A. J. G. M. Bekke, ...
, and the
United Nations Disaster Relief Organization United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two fi ...
(UNDRO). The PCDPPP failed to break the direct and indirect dependence the Caribbean had on
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
and the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. Ultimately, the PCDPPP failed to achieve full participation from Caribbean countries. In 1989, after the widespread destruction of
Hurricane Hugo Hurricane Hugo was a powerful Cape Verde tropical cyclone that inflicted widespread damage across the northeastern Caribbean and the Southeastern United States in September 1989. Across its track, Hugo affected approximately 2 million peop ...
, there was focus on creating more effective natural disaster management and preparedness. In 1991 the Caribbean Disaster and Emergency Response Agency (CDERA) was created. CDERA was formed with 16 participating Caribbean nations. With this organization, Caribbean countries had regional support along with international support. This increased the probability of aid coming from regional sources. CDERA would later change its name to CDEMA, the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency.


History

In 1989, when the PCDPPP was beginning to fall apart,
Hurricane Hugo Hurricane Hugo was a powerful Cape Verde tropical cyclone that inflicted widespread damage across the northeastern Caribbean and the Southeastern United States in September 1989. Across its track, Hugo affected approximately 2 million peop ...
struck the Caribbean. Relief was still relying on foreign aid from countries such as the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. By 1990 the insurance companies were criticizing the PCDPPP and how it was necessary to revamp the system in which the Caribbean responded to
natural disasters A natural disaster is "the negative impact following an actual occurrence of natural hazard in the event that it significantly harms a community". A natural disaster can cause loss of life or damage property, and typically leaves some econo ...
. The construction industry, in particular, was criticized for not enforcing enough standards on structure's abilities to withstand disasters prone to the Caribbean. In 1991 the PCDPPP ceased to exist, and for about a month, the insurance agencies in the region were desperate for a replacement. In terms of disaster relief and management, the Caribbean region was in limbo, awaiting a strong force to aid them in a time of crisis. There were little signs of funding for the formation of such an organization, and meeting the deadline of June 1, 1991, for the implementation of a new disaster relief organization was looking doubtful. Funding was and still is a huge part of this region, and in terms of disaster relief meant everything. The
Caribbean Community The Caribbean Community (CARICOM or CC) is an intergovernmental organization that is a political and economic union of 15 member states (14 nation-states and one dependency) throughout the Caribbean. They have primary objectives to promote econom ...
(CARICOM) was finally able to take the initiative and set up CDERA in September 1991. The growth of CDERA is said to have been very slow throughout the 1990s. Things began to improve starting in the twenty-first century with CDERA. In 2003 studies showed how their own developed earlier warning systems in the Caribbean straight from the Caribbean Metrological organization based in Trinidad and Tobago were reducing the lives lost in disasters. There was still controversy over whether the people had confidence in this system, and they needed to study how the public interacted with these systems for improvement. In 2005, CDERA was planning to better coordinate with the tourism industry and get them up to speed on preparing a response strategy and a clear plan for preparing for natural or
man-made disasters Anthropogenic hazards are hazards caused by human action or inaction. They are contrasted with natural hazards. Anthropogenic hazards may adversely affect humans, other organisms, biomes, and ecosystems. They can even cause an omnicide. The ...
. CDERA was also formulating plans to better train their employees and improve the spread of information. The
Caribbean Tourism Organization The Caribbean Tourism Organizations main objective is the development of sustainable tourism for the economic and social benefit of Caribbean people. Operations The CTO, with headquarters in Barbados, is the Caribbean’s tourism development a ...
(CTO) claimed the current system CDERA was using needed to become more united into one system instead of a "
tower of Babel The Tower of Babel ( he, , ''Mīgdal Bāḇel'') narrative in Genesis 11:1–9 is an origin myth meant to explain why the world's peoples speak different languages. According to the story, a united human race speaking a single language and mi ...
" effect occurring. Also later that year CDERA coordinator, Jeremy Collymore, started putting pressure on the individual countries of the
Caribbean Union The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...
to increase their preparedness plan, giving them encouragement to become more self sustainable in case of an emergency. While encouraging strengthening from within, aid from
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
was used to help develop their community early warning systems and hazard management ability. With the recent tsunamis in Thailand and Somalia aid was sought from the
Pacific Tsunami Warning Center The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) is one of two tsunami warning centers that are operated by NOAA in the United States. Headquartered on Ford Island, HI, the PTWC is part of an international tsunami warning system (TWS) program and s ...
to develop earlier tsunami warning systems in the Caribbean. Although CDERA was looking outward for nations with experience in
tsunamis A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater expl ...
, much studying was done on the subject within the Caribbean at places such as the
University of Puerto Rico The University of Puerto Rico ( es, Universidad de Puerto Rico, UPR) is the main public university system in the U.S. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. It is a government-owned corporation with 11 campuses and approximately 58,000 students and 5,3 ...
, the
University of the Virgin Islands The University of the Virgin Islands (or UVI) is a public historically black land-grant university in the United States Virgin Islands. History UVI was founded as the College of the Virgin Islands on March 16, 1962. In 1986, it officially beca ...
. In 2006, financial aid from the
European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...
granted 3.4 million to help prepare for disasters. CDERA was responsible for using this money where they saw fit. Financing CDERA's projects is still continuing to be greatly funded from outside sources. Even today approximately 90% of funding for CDERA's projects comes from international donors. Along with funds being heavily dependent on foreign sources staffing for CDERA has been in serious trouble. It has been said that some staff members of CDERA lack backgrounds in disaster management and those in charge are low in the bureaucracy's chain of command. In 2010, CDERA had undergone a name change to the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA). CDEMA is still constantly trying to increase their effectiveness in disaster managing while keeping it sustainable within their own region. They have recently been focusing on creating a better connection with policy makers and technical officials for better results."Effective Disaster Management addressed at recent CDEMA meeting," BVI News (May 31, 2011): www.bvinews.com CDEMA has evolved a lot since its creation in 1991 and taken a largely more independent role of disaster relief for the Caribbean. It provides a local response effort and management system to handle the increase of natural disaster in the recent few decades. CDEMA still largely leans on foreign aid for its financial support. CDEMA continues to grow into a strong local agency to manage and respond to disaster is the Caribbean region. These agencies however may not be effective in responding to Caribbean countries during a threat posed by a natural disaster.


See also

*
Canadian Hurricane Centre The Canadian Hurricane Centre (CHC; french: Centre canadien de prévision des ouragans) is an organisation that monitors and warns of the threat of tropical cyclones such as hurricanes and tropical storms. CHC is a division of the Meteorological Se ...
*
European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites The European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) is an intergovernmental organisation created through an international convention agreed by a current total of 30 European Member States. EUMETSAT's primary ...
*
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditio ...
(NOAA) * Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility Segregated Portfolio Company (CCRIF)


References


External links

* {{Authority control . Emergency organizations
Disaster A disaster is a serious problem occurring over a short or long period of time that causes widespread human, material, economic or environmental loss which exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources ...
Non-profit organisations based in Barbados Emergency management