The Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) is urgently developing a new regional response mechanism as uncertain US support and climate change impacts threaten the region’s disaster preparedness.
The development comes as Wilfred Abrahams, minister of home affairs and information, called for the region’s Barbados-based disaster response system to take “fresh guard”.
Addressing the opening of the three-day Regional Response Mechanism (RRM) After-Action Review and Consultation on “Building The Next-Level RRM” at the Hilton Resort, Elizabeth Riley, executive director of CDEMA, said: “Today’s meeting takes place in the midst of geopolitical upheaval. We’re all assessing the evolving implications of shifting foreign policy positions of the United States for our national and regional readiness. Signals are that some previous financial and technical support arrangements through the United States partnerships are uncertain.”
The Caribbean’s response strategy, Riley said, is evolving in response to these challenges. “As a region, we’ve already begun to pivot, identifying mitigation measures to ensure our operational readiness.”
The CDEMA head added: “So, two things are certain. One is that the geopolitical shift has exposed the high-risk exposure of our regional response mechanism, and two, the Caribbean must reaffirm its commitment to strengthening self-reliance for effective response to disasters through deepening our national capacities, regional and international partnerships, pooling our resources and engaging new and non-traditional partners.”
CDEMA’s current strategic approach is outlined in the agency’s Strategic Plan 2022-2027, specifically in Strategic Objective 2, which focuses on building the next-level regional response mechanism. The plan was developed before the recent shifts in global geopolitics, and CDEMA had not initially anticipated these changes.
“When we developed the strategic plan, we did not contemplate this scenario. What we were clear about was that the climate crisis and its global hydrometeorological and other implications pointed to a future where reliance on our own capacities and resources would be the cornerstone for responses under the regional response mechanism,” Riley explained.
She stated that CDEMA is embracing this geopolitical shift as an opportunity to accelerate the ambitions set forth in the 2022 strategic plan.
Riley said: “In true Caribbean spirit, we embrace the current geopolitical shift as an opportunity to accelerate our own ambitions, which was articulated in the 2022 strategic plan, and we look forward to deliberations over the next three days on refining the definition of and identifying what is required to deliver the next level regional response mechanism.”
Central to this effort is the understanding that a resilient Caribbean begins with resilient national systems and the region’s recent experience with Hurricane Beryl underscored the need for such resilience, she added. “The 2024 events reflect the multi-hazard nature of our region. . . . Hurricane Beryl was the earliest forming Category 5 hurricane on record and is a manifestation of the ever-evolving definition of unprecedented cyclones fueled by climate change.
“Whilst we’re not reviewing 2025, the 7.5 magnitude earthquake in early February, and the resulting tsunami threat messages issued remind us that operational readiness is a perennial necessity.”
Abrahams stressed that while many Caribbean nations, including Barbados, have made significant strides in disaster preparedness, there is an urgent need for continued investment in national disaster management systems. “Our ability to support any regional response is predicated on the strength of our national systems,” he said, stressing the importance of developing plans, training, and investing in emergency resources.
The minister also expressed concern over the inconsistency in financial support for regional organisations like CDEMA, which coordinates the RRM. “It is difficult to get . . . some Caribbean territories to make their . . . financial commitments to CDEMA and people tend not to recognise the importance of CDEMA until they need CDEMA,” he said.
“I wish to propose that the RRM take fresh guard and seeks to retool itself for this complex, multi-hazard, and multi-state threat environment which we’re increasingly and obviously being exposed to where the RRM may have to respond to not only multi-state impacts but also impacts on multiple islands within a single state structure as well. In order to future tool the RRM participating states will therefore need to review their national allocations and finance appropriations for national readiness.
“Disaster offices and national emergency management systems of each member state must be adequately financed, equipped and resourced to provide the first line humanitarian support and disaster relief or response intervention at a national level which if required could transition to a regional intervention.”
Abrahams made it clear: “This is like house insurance. You invest in it and you hope you never need it.”
Brenda Wills, Canada’s high commissioner to Barbados, in her remarks at the opening, said: “If there is to be any kind of opportunity to come out of disasters such as Beryl, it is the opportunity to see how our collective actions have reduced impacts and or made responses quicker and more effective. But there should always be room for reflection and learning.
“The Caribbean has led the way in many aspects of disaster management but there remains significant work to do at all levels . . . . As we look at level regional response mechanisms we must also reflect on the realities of the significant geopolitical uncertainties that exist.”
Governments were also urged to retool the RRM and ensure it is fully prepared for the complex, multi-hazard threats that have become more frequent and unpredictable. (FW)
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