Under a memorandum of understanding with the OAS and with funding from the PGDM, the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency (CDERA) assisted both Antigua/Barbuda and St. Kitts/Nevis with the development of national shelter management policies and guidebooks for the implementation of those policies. As part of this assistance, CDERA undertook the following activities; all work was undertaken in collaboration with the national emergency management offices:
The final drafts of these policies and handbooks are being circulated to the national disaster offices in other CDERA member states for review and potential adaptation/adoption.
Both countries have agreed that the draft manuals should be further reviewed by stakeholders and personnel involved in disaster management. To finalize these draft documents and begin implementation of the suggested program, CDERA will support the following steps over the coming year:
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Both the National Office of Disaster Services (Antigua/Barbuda) and the National Emergency Management Agency (St. Kitts/Nevis) have internal training and experience to conduct shelter management training courses for the local shelter managers. With support from the PGDM, NODS organized and conducted a shelter management training course in September 2000 to address existing gaps in its roster of trained managers for designated shelters.
In Antigua/Barbuda, the PGDM supported retrofit work on John Hughes School, a designated emergency shelter. Under this activity, the PGDM engaged a local engineer to review the structure, recommend retrofit works and supervise the implementation of the recommendations. The project also covered the cost of the building supplies and materials required for the retrofit. The Antigua/Barbuda Public Works Department providedc the labor for this activity.
In St. Kitts and Nevis, the scope of the structural vulnerability assessment was expanded in lieu of undertaking any direct retrofit activities under the PGDM.
| USAID/OAS Post-Georges Disaster Mitigation: http://www.oas.org/pgdm | Page last updated on 17 Sep 2001 |