To hold disaster management training on St. Maarten
On Thursday June 6th the Ministries of Infrastructure & Environment (I&M) and Waterways & Public Works are organizing a management training on St. Maarten for workers from Saba, St. Eustatius and Bonaire who are involved with disaster management and crisis control at sea. This training forms part of a schooling, training and education plan (OTO) which Waterways & Public Works is organising this year. Participants in this training are; the Island Governors of Saba, St. Eustatius and Bonaire, secretary general to the Kingdom Representative, Island Secretaries/disaster coordinators, Liaison Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment, Coastguard CARIB, Shipping Inspectors ILT, Liaison Ministry of Economic Affairs (nature management), managers of nature parks, harbour masters, General Commander Fire Brigade Caribbean Netherlands.
The training is geared towards the more administrative side of disaster management. On the strategic level Island Governors and the Kingdom Representative are in charge.
Any decisions which they make they are to attune well with each other and other concerned parties. A good mutual cooperation is moreover very important. All concerned persons must therefore know who has which tasks and responsibilities.
The goal of this training is to among others; acquaint the local and regional authorities with their role, tasks and responsibilities during the combating of maritime incidents based on the current existing agreements/processes and the Maritime Disaster Management Plan Caribbean Netherlands, to map the
crisis management network and to make further agreements about cooperation and harmonization,
provide insight into the process of crisis control and the relation and cooperation with other partners, sharing of experiences (oil spill Nustar and salvage Crazy Mary 2012) in regard to crisis communication and the recovery of costs and achieving a unified approach and other agreements.
At the end of this training there must be clarity regarding everyone’s role, tasks and responsibilities during the combating of maritime incidents and the mutual cooperation and attuning between the local, regional and national government.
During the training the opportunity will be given to also talk about schooling, training and education plan
(opleidings-, trainings- en opleidingstraject OTO). What does OTO stand for; what are the local and national ambitions, getting a clear picture of responsibilities and tasks locally as well as nationally, attuning the training policy plan for the islands and OTO-plan RWS, achieving a unified image and agreements for cooperation.
Following this joint training, at the end of fall, separate trainings will take place on each island. The island policy- or disaster teams will then be exercised and trained in their own surroundings.