Bridgetown, Barbados February 17, 2022 – The Preparedness and Response Division (PRD) of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), through its Regional Training Centre (RTC), commenced a three-day Damage and Needs Assessment (DANA) Orientation/Training workshop for the St. Vincent & The Grenadines National Emergency Management Organisation (SVG NEMO) on February 15^th, 2022. The training is intended to present a systematic approach for conducting damage assessment in an effective and time sensitive manner to influence response and recovery actions in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Ms. Michelle Forbes, Director of NEMO SVG, in her opening remarks, thanked the over sixty (60) participants attending the virtual event (representing the DANA Subcommittee: including housing, health, critical utilities and lifelines and agriculture, as well as other Public and Private sector interests, Non-Governmental Organisations and Community Groups) for their attendance and indicated that “the National Emergency Management System of St. Vincent and The Grenadines will be in a much stronger position to provide critical assessments of both human and sector needs in a post-hazard environment which would lend to the more effective and efficient management of response resources at such critical times”.

The DANA Continuum, which is a tool that allows an Impacted State to describe, as quickly and objectively as possible through various assessment tools, the impact of a severe hazard on its human population and economic sectors, with a view to determining best approaches for response and additional resources required for immediate and future needs, has been a significant pillar within the CDEMA 2014-2024 Comprehensive Disaster Management (CDM) Strategy.  Ms. Joanne Persad, Programme Manager Preparedness and Response, CDEMA, indicated in her opening remarks the importance of all the stages within the DANA Continuum in supporting evidence-based decision-making, priority setting and establishing updated needs list. 

Participants in the training will be oriented on the use of the resource tool at each stage of the Disaster Management Cycle, as dictated by the type, scale, and unique characteristics of particular hazard impacts.

At the end of the training, SVG NEMO will have DANA teams to be deployed within country (or within the region in support of the CDEMA System) to conduct any aspect of the DANA Continuum once it becomes necessary.