Section Head of the Office of Disaster Management Paul Martens is currently in Aruba to attend the launch of the disaster risk reduction activities on that island and within the region.
A Regional Risk Reduction Initiative (R3I) workshop funded by the European Union and implemented by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) office in Barbados is being held from May 3 through 6 at Aruba Marriott Resort & Stellaris Casino.
The workshop entails the launching of the R3I project in Aruba. A presentation will be made by Aruban disaster officials about their main challenges and opportunities in terms of disaster management, and more specifically GIS applied to risk information, identified.
A project board will also meet with reference to the governance of the R3I project, project status, and decide on the main orientations for the project implementation. There will be a meeting of the Technical Management Team (TMT) of which Paul Martens is a member. The TMT will decide on technical aspects of the project.
The European Union (EU) has made funding available for several regional projects in the field of disaster management and risk reduction.
One of the projects is Early Warning Systems of which Sint Maarten is a beneficiary. The coastal bathymetric survey carried out earlier this year is one of the elements of this particular project.
Program Manager at the Department of Interior and Kingdom Relations Loekie Morales will be representing the prime minister as the Territorial Authorizing Officer (TAO) representative on the R3I project board.
Disaster management falls under the responsibility of the Ministry of General Affairs and the prime minister.
Previous R3I workshops were held in Anguilla in January and in Sint Maarten, October 2010.