Federation and CDERA sign revised MoU

Over the last year the regional and international communities have come to see, almost persistently, the vulnerability of much of the development they have championed over recent decades.

With this in mind, the Port-of-Spain Sub Regional Office of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies’ (Federation) and the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency (CDERA) recently renewed their commitment to respond to disasters in the Caribbean.

Speaking at a recent Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) ceremony in Jamaica, Ms Julia Brothwell, Co-ordinator of the Federation’s Port-of-Spain Office said: “Today we do not just speak of disaster response. Now the phrases are risk reduction and comprehensive disaster management. Regional entities, such as ourselves, need to improve the sharing of resources and tools to better serve the vulnerable.”

She added that in coordinating and sharing our capacities they can make the most of the limited resources in the Caribbean in times of disaster.

In 1995, the Federation and CDERA signed a MoU. In that agreement both organizations demarcated their respective responsibilities as they sought to respond to disasters in the Caribbean.

Mr Jeremy Collymore, CDERA’s co-ordinator, said given the magnitude of the events the Caribbean has been experiencing in recent years, there is definitely a need to encourage and support more community empowerment for vulnerability reduction.

In the MoU, CDERA and the Federation have identified the need to invest more effort in supporting institutional capacity building at the national level for both the Red Cross and national disaster offices in the region.

Ms Brothwell added that the Federation was pleased to sign the newly revised MoU with CDERA because it will strengthen the relationship between both organizations.

“The Red Cross national Societies and Overseas Branches will continue to work with the national disaster offices of CDERA participating states. Together we have a better opportunity of improving the lives of the vulnerable in times of disaster.”