NEMO Graduates New Community Emergency Response Volunteers

Twenty-three residents of San Antonio and Santa Cruz villages in the Orange Walk District are now trained to assist their communities during disasters and other emergencies.The residents graduated yesterday evening in Santa Cruz Village after completing the National Emergency Management Organization’s second Community Emergency Response Team, or CERT, training programme. The cohort included ten participants from San Antonio and thirteen from Santa Cruz.  The programme prepares community volunteers to provide immediate assistance before professional emergency responders arrive. Participants received practical training in disaster preparedness, basic first aid, fire safety, light search and rescue, emergency communications, damage assessment and the coordination of community response efforts.  NEMO says the training will allow the graduates to support their families, neighbours and first responders during emergencies, while strengthening the overall resilience of their villages.  Each graduate received a personal emergency-response kit to assist in carrying out their duties as a CERT member. The San Antonio and Santa Cruz village councils were also provided with emergency equipment to strengthen their ability to coordinate local disaster-response efforts.  The programme was implemented by NEMO with technical support from the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) through the Building the Resilience of CARIFORUM States to Disaster Risks and Climate Change Impacts, or BRICS, Programme. It is financed by the European Union under the Eleventh European Development Fund.