Page 30 - DDME "The Disaster Forum"

MS. LATOYA JONES
TRAINING AND EDUCATION SPECIALIST DEPARTMENT OF DISASTER MANAGEMENT & EMERGENCIES
PARTNERSHIP IN PREPAREDNESS
THROUGH THE LENS OF TRAINING AND EDUCATION
Effec@ve prepara@on of communi@es and the en@re populace as a whole can only be achieved if all stakeholders are involved in the process. No single group or organiza@on can address every aspect of such a wide ranging and complex way of dealing with disasters and as such Partnership in Training and Educa@on is essen@al for Disaster Risk Reduc@on. DDME has con@nually sought to partner with the Private Sector and NGO’s to take preparedness to a new level.
Training and Educa@on for disaster preparedness can provide life-saving and life- sustaining informa@on and skills that protect everyone during and aOer emergencies.

Disasters are not natural, they only occur when people lack preparedness or the ability to cope with hazards: it is the combina@on of an exposed and ill-prepared popula@on or community with a hazard event that results in a disaster. Training and Educa@on therefore has a vital role to play in preparing communi@es and building disaster resilient socie@es and safe lives.
Upon taking appointment with the Department on March 1st, 2019 Ms. Jones has con@nued with DDME’s mandate of Capacity Building for more Resilient Communi@es in the Turks & Caicos Islands. On March 13 – 15, 2019 DDME Hosted the Emergency Crisis and CommunicaTon Workshop. This Workshop in following the theme of Partners in Preparedness used a mulT-stakeholder driven approach to review and update the Na@onal Emergency Communica@on Plan, develop the Communica@on Protocol and Updated the Na@onal Call Out Tree. It’s objec@ve to improve Emergency Communica@on for Emergency Responders was successfully carried out. This Workshop was facilitated by Mr. Darryl Dragoo and three other team members of the Emergency Management Accredita@on Program of the USA, with funding by the Bri@sh Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
This Training saw a cross sec@on of Stakeholder involvement with the following agencies and companies represented:
• For@sTCI(Power)
• FLOW(Telecommunica@on)
• ProvoWaterLtd
• GrandTurkCruiseCenter
• Turks&CaicosHotelandTourismAssocia@on • Turks&CaicosIslandsTouristBoard
• Turks&CaicosIslandsRedCross
• VariousKeyTCIGDepartments,namely:
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I. Middle & North Caicos
II. Salt Cay and South Caicos
- Customs
- Police
- CoastalRadar
- Immigra@on
- 911CallCenter
- EnvironmentalHealth - PortAuthority
- AirportAuthority
- MinistryofHealth
- HEGovernor’sOffice
- DistrictAdministra@on