Lessons learnt from Haiti earthquake

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - An expert with respect to disaster management in the Caribbean is suggesting that Haiti is an excellent example of how a disasters can create an opportunity for enhancing coping capacity.
Retired head of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), Jeremy Collymore, told the media recently that it has been a lesson for the entire region as prior to the earthquake in Haiti in 2010, which claimed the lives of thousands of people, a simple tropical storm would result in significant loss of life.
“If you review even the injuries, deaths, etc., of the events after 2010, you would find that there has been an improvement in the early warning systems. So that people are being made sufficiently aware to appropriate protective or precautionary actions,” he said.