-Caricom
Caricom has about 36 medical personnel on the ground assisting with the relief efforts in Haiti, Executive Director of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) Jeremy Collymore says, as the Community continues its relief efforts to the earthquake ravaged state.
Speaking to members of the regional media via video conference, Collymore said that the team was able to render assistance to many Haitians, including performing minor surgeries on patients. He said that in addition to this, Caricom was able to provide emergency supplies of water, emergency blankets and other health components.
Apart from providing medical care, Collymore said that the Caribbean Community is on the frontlines in Haiti providing military assistance and helping in the search and rescue interventions along with the international community.
Secretary General of Caricom Edwin Carrington said the Community had decided that the health sector was the best option for it to render assistance. He explained that the danger posed by injuries and the anticipated outbreak of disease in Haiti along with the Community’s capacity to respond influenced the choice of focus. “The danger of contamination… and diseases like dysentery and cholera… makes health one of the critically needed areas… and we felt that we had some capacity in that area,” he said.
Meanwhile, at yesterday’s press conference, Carrington defended the response of the Community to the ongoing debacle in Haiti. He stressed that Caricom was trying to put its best foot forward in relation to its response. He noted the wide criticisms that have been leveled against the institution by sections of regional media but said that these were “generally neither informed, nor useful nor constructive.” He, however, singled out an editorial in the Trinidadian Newsday newspaper as one which did justice to the efforts of the Community.
The Secretary General said that Caricom had responded as quickly as it could to the crisis.
He emphasised that the magnitude of the crisis should be taken into consideration. He opined that the situation was too big for one entity and that a multi-pronged approached was and is clearly the way to go.
Deputy Secretary-General Colin Granderson, who returned from Haiti Thursday evening, echoed the statements of the Secretary General. He pointed out that the entire communications system in the country had been destroyed and this has hampered relief efforts. He said too that the damage to infrastructure particularly to the seas ports and the limited availability of human resources in some circumstances were also major hindrances.
He said that not only the government had collapsed but a significant percentage of the public servants had been affected and were unable to function. All these would have influenced the relief efforts that Caricom would have pursued, he explained.
Meanwhile, as part of a multi-pronged approach to the situation, Carrington said that Caricom has been invited to be part of an International Conference on Haiti which is scheduled for Monday in Montreal, Canada.
The purpose of this meeting is to address issues related to the full reconstruction of Haiti. These discussions are expected to go beyond emergency assistance and relief for Haiti and to address core issues of strengthening of the viability, the political, economic and social stability in the country in the medium and long term. Caricom will be represented at this forum by Former Jamaican Prime Minister PJ Patterson.
According to Carrington, the committee was created at a meeting initiated by the Dominican President Roosevelt Skerrit on Monday and which involved representatives from the United Nations, the European Union, the Organisation of American States, Mexico, Chile, the USA, Canada, Brazil, the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank.
At a regional level, Carrington said that a Meeting of the Bureau of Heads will be held during next week’s Heads of Government Summit on Youth in Paramaribo, Suriname to discuss Haiti. He said that with a busy schedule it would be difficult to arrange a full meeting of all the Heads of Government. He, however, pointed out that Skerrit has been in contact with other Heads of State.
The Secretary General disclosed that several member states have made financial pledges to the institution. These are: Antigua and Barbuda EC$100,000, British Virgin Islands USD$80,000, Grenada US$100,000, Guyana US$1,000 000, Saint Lucia EC$500,000, Trinidad and Tobago US$1,000,000 and St. Vincent and the Grenadines US$100,000. The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) has also pledged US$200,000. These funds will most likely go towards Health initiative.
Meanwhile, Carrington further said that a decision will have to be made be made by the Heads of Government as to whether Haiti will be able to assume the chairmanship of the Community later this year as scheduled. Haiti was scheduled to take the reins of the Community in July. Carrington said that consideration would be given to “whether Haiti will want to and will be able to” assume the Chairmanship.