Emergency Services personnel in Belize will have the opportunity to upgrade their skills and knowledge in Emergency telecommunications at a two-day workshop being hosted by the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency (CDERA) and the National Emergency Management  Organisation (NEMO)of Belize.

Participants at Telecommunications Workshop in Belmopan,Belize.

More than 15 persons will be trained in this course, the tenth, in a series of 16 training workshops being undertaken in all of CDERA 16 Participating States as part of a wider Land-based Search and Rescue Project being implemented by CDERA. This BZ$5.9 million (US$3M) Project seeks to develop by 2006, enhanced search and rescue infrastructure at the national and regional levels as well as provide training in search and rescue techniques.

Belize has received close to 250 thousand Belizean dollars in equipment to support its land-based search and rescue operations. Equipment included one fully outfitted search and rescue vehicle, radio equipment, two satellite telephones (one mobile and one fixed), a laptop computer and four first responder kits,. Each first responder kit, which is designed to service six rescuers, contains close to one hundred pieces of equipment that might be needed in a land-based search and rescue operation.

Additional training in the management and operation of all the equipment and in warehousing will complete the implementation of the land-based search and rescue project which is funded by the Government of Japan through the United Nations Trust Fund for Human Security which is managed by the United Nations Development Programme.

The course is being held at the NEMO Secretariat Training Room.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT:

Andria Grosvenor
Project Manager, CDERA
Telephone: (246) 425-0386
E-mail: cdera@caribsurf.com

Emil Rodriguez
Press and Communication Officer NEMO
Telephone: 822-2054
E-mail: pressofficer@nemo.org.bz

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