Amid reports of the dire conditions on hurricane-ravaged Dominica, Chairman of CARICOM Dr Keith Mitchell yesterday called for a revamped regional response to disasters.
Speaking at a press conference in Roseau hosted by the Dominican Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, Mitchell, the Prime Minister of Grenada said, “The question of what happens after a disaster, we must rethink, in my view, the whole process. How do we integrate the efforts of the private sector or our financial institutions, government and all institutions in a post-disaster event? I still believe that we are literally doing guess work with not sufficient integration in the process. I believe this whole thing tells us there must be deeper planning,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell, whose Grenada had suffered severe hurricane devastation from Ivan in 2004, said “A lot of the things maybe Dominica is going through today probably should not have to go through. There should almost be a system that takes off automatically so I am convinced that we have to do more than we have done,” he further stated.