CDC plans to widen partnership with Florida National Guard

-on disaster response management

The Civil Defence Commission (CDC) is looking to widen its partnership with the Florida National Guard in the area of disaster response management, as the mandate of the agency has been extended to respond to all hazards.

Director-General of the CDC, Lieutenant Colonel Kester Craig and heads of the various units of the agency on Wednesday, met a team from the Florida National Guard at the CDC’s alternate National Emergency Operations Centre, Timehri, East Bank Demerara.

In an invited comment after the meeting, Lt. Col. Craig said discussions centered on the areas the CDC needs to strengthen.

“We have discussed a number of areas where we can look for and have further discussions for support, in the area of search and rescue, in the area of oil spill response.

We discussed the opportunity of having subject matter experts exchange visit in Guyana and even persons in Guyana visiting the different US military operation training activities that are done in the area of emergency response and emergency preparedness,” he said.

Lt. Col. Craig said the purpose of the engagement was to start discussions for future support and collaborations. He said he is pleased with the response given by the team from the Florida National Guard.

Meanwhile, the team led by Adjunct General of the Florida National Guard, Major General James Eifert toured the warehouse donated by the US Southern Command.

The Civil Defence Commission is tasked with emergency monitoring, assessment and response to all hazards and coordination of local humanitarian assistance. It is currently working to establish a National Early Warning System that will reduce the extent of losses in the event of a hazard.