The National Disaster Management Agency (NaDMA) hosted on Tuesday, 24 October 2017, US Ambassador to Barbados, the Eastern Caribbean and the OECS Linda S Taglialatela.
The ambassador accompanied by the Chargé d’affaires Stephen Fram and Commander Liz Booker, a Senior Defence Official of the US Coast Guard paid a courtesy visit to NaDMA to better understand the structure of agency, to receive an update on the ongoing relief operations, and the way forward for NaDMA.
During her over 1-hour long interactive discussion with staff of the agency, Taglialatela was given a summary presentation of the operations, activities, mandate and future plans by Acting Disaster Coordinator, Samantha Dickson.
Commenting on the work of the agency, the ambassador commended Grenada’s response to its sister nations in the wake of Hurricanes Irma and Maria.
“I think it is important that we look at this as a collaborative effort amongst nations and I have been very impressed with what the Caribbean nations have done to support each other and the amount of energy they put in providing relief and people resources to go to the affected countries to provide assistance,” Taglialatela said.
The ambassador also heaped praise on the agency for the work being done in preparing the nation for any hazard, and the optimistic view of the future to be more resilient to disasters.
Fram, in his comments on the meeting, noted that Tuesday’s discussions gave them an idea of how to better focus their assistance thereby resulting in greater impact. “The idea of capacity building is one that is always important to us and one that we care about and one we will work together on,” said Fram.
The visit also coincides with a commitment by the US Government to provide a new home for NaDMA by 2020.
NaDMA
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